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Only click this if you want to watch a video...I'm Afraid of Americans

Posted by Mike Didj at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Okay, this isn't a story about our Ojai Post author, Millennium Twain! This is the title I gave the story two years ago when it was first published. It's a short work of fiction (sort of) that I thought was timely. How do you plan to ring in 2007?

Two thousand zero zero party over oops out of time . . .

The band was doing the obligatory, albeit pathetic, rendition of Prince's '80s essential dance tune. The hotel sold out the "Package of the Millennium" and all of the guests were now clamoring to the dance floor, hideously gyrating to a beat that was clearly more useful to them in their younger days. Middle-aged men with their shirts unbuttoned to reveal decades-old piles of graying chest hair and women stuffed into dresses that fit them better in their 20s bumped and grinded into one another painfully. I sniffled and wiped my dripping nose with my sleeve.

"You got the lights, right?" Hiram shouted over the band leader's impromptu guitar solo, tearing it up miserably.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, no problem," I hissed, my throat punishing me with every syllable.

Of all nights to be sick, this was definitely the worst. As the hotel's director of guest relations, my prestigious assignment for the night involved being stationed next to a Klieg light tower at the back of the ballroom, running on generator power. Hiram, my boss, the general manager and a Y2K compliant geek, insisted that the western power grid was scheduled to go "off-line" at 11 p.m. PST. When it didn't, Hiram looked deflated; he figured somehow that the time-warp continuum would catch up to us at midnight, so I'd better not leave my post. I surrendered myself to the inevitable and cozied up to my date, Mr. Klieg, and surveyed the crowd of idle rich trust-funders.

When the recruiter called me up six months earlier for "the job of a lifetime," I had no idea he actually meant "the job that will suck the life out of you." But the seduction of salary, title, signing bonus, and relocation assistance grabbed hold and didn't let go. I jumped at the chance, as I did with every other hotel job since college graduation. It was always 24/7/365, full of promises of excitement and glamour and at a pace that would stop an Olympic athlete dead in his tracks. But being starry-eyed and impressionable, it's the career path I consciously chose. Now, years later, staving off pangs of regret, with Prince's wannabe charlatan crooning in my ear, fogged by a cloud of confetti and too much cold medicine, I floated away into a daydream.

Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999 . . .

The music had an undeniable beat that took over my gawky limbs and for once made them move in perfect harmony. My head finally knew what my feet were doing and my arms were fluid, no longer flailing about wildly. At 5'9" and 120 pounds, awkward came naturally, but grace was elusive, if not impossible. I was 15 and mostly looking forward to having my hair permed and getting my braces off soon. Jan hopped and spun across from me and every time her head bobbed, her glasses smacked her on the nose, but that didn't seem to bother her a bit.

Cisco scooted over my way and said, "Hey, we're gonna ... and ... right, Lis?"

"What? I can't hear you!"

He took a deep breath and yelled, "We're gonna all get together and party in 1999, right?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely, we just have to, right Lis?" Jan screamed her allegiance while her hips swiveled and her arms hovered over her head.

Without a moment's hesitation, I nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, cool, we all have to swear we're gonna get together, no matter what!" And we all high-fived.

Then there was a loud pop; the DJ had just backed into one of the balloons that spelled out "1983" over the stage.

1999, don'tcha wanna go, 1999, don'tcha wanna go ...

A balloon fell into the Klieg light and the heat made it explode over my head. I jumped and Hiram came over and sneered, "Are you okay, didn't you hear me on the radio?"

"Oh, no, sorry, I guess the band was too loud."

"You don't look so good."

No kidding, I'm at death's door. "Oh, yeah, I've got a cold."

"Look, I know you're sick, but I just can't let you go until after the countdown." And with that he immediately turned on his heels and sauntered toward the champagne fountain.

Just then one of the guests stumbled over to me with her boobs pouring out of her dress, waving a broken plastic tiara at me with one hand and sloshing champagne out of a glass with the other. "My tiara broke, I need a new one and I also never got a kazoo, how do you expect me to properly ring in the millennium?"

Oh, honey, don't get me started. "I'm so sorry. I'll get you a new one right away." One of her false eyelashes was making its way down her cheek and it was all I could do to keep from staring, so I grabbed the broken tiara and started off on my new assignment.

As I was walking away, she shouted, "And the kazoo, don't forget the kazoo!"

Across the room, a party of eight looked as though a hurricane hit their table. The centerpiece of Casablanca lilies was torn to shreds and everyone was wearing napkins on their heads and arguing about the meaning of "Auld Lang Syne." One of the men stood up and blew into his kazoo so hard it flew into his half-eaten plate of coq au vin. Seizing the opportunity, I snatched up his plate and said, "Sir, let me clear your plate for you." He didn't even notice me and was already singing, "Should old acquaintance be forgot and never get too DRUNK," while the others applauded and laughed at him. Since the ladies had donned their napkin chapeaus, I slyly scooped up one of their tiaras off the floor, where chunks of Dauphinaise potatoes and spears of asparagus lay after being catapulted off the table.

I handed the plate to one of the waiters and borrowed a corner of his apron to wipe the slobber off the kazoo as he rolled his eyes at me. I then proudly presented the goods to Liz Taylor's clone.

"It's about time, my gawd, it's nearly midnight already!" Her false eyelash was long gone and the other one was now stuck to her eyebrow.

"So sorry to have kept you waiting. I hope you enjoy your evening." And I hope you wake up with a raging hangover in the morning!

I went back to my post and thought about the path I had chosen. I worked hard in college and graduated with honors. And now, after investing more than 10 years in this business, I was again seriously considering leaving it all behind. Just last week I had been to see a career counselor, and after giving her $150 and enduring test after test, she concluded I was in the wrong business. You don't say? Even I knew I had more to offer than kowtowing to the more fortunate.

It was 10 minutes to midnight. A new millennium. A new chance. A pact with old friends. I glimpsed at my watch nervously. I looked at Hiram, visibly grinding his teeth with anticipation, as if he were in charge of detonating a nuclear warhead. It was then that I resolved to find something better.

I wondered where Cisco and Jan were now. I had just enough time to find out. Liz Taylor was waving at me and teetering her way over. It's now or never.

Behind me was a door. I quickly took the radio off my belt and clipped it to the light tower. I took a deep breath, slipped out the door ... and began my new life.

Posted by Lisa Snider at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

It was a brisk spring morning when I arrived at my apiary location in the Malibu mountains just above Sequit point. It had just rained a few days ago so the ground was pretty wet, I had to be careful I didn’t get my truck stuck in a soft spot. Since most bee yards are out away from people and farm workers it’s a common to be off out in the sticks somewhere, consequently the roads are not the best. After a long rainy period sometimes it is impossible to get to the bees at all or only by foot. This particular time the ground was ok and I was able to get in with no problem.

I got out of my truck to the sound of busy bees already in full foraging mode. My mission on this trip was to assess the situation and determine which hives were strong enough to split and make new hives with the queens I had with me. I fired up my smoker and I was off to the first hive for inspection. Most of the hives were looking real good and the bees were already starting to bring in some early blooming Ceanothus ( Mountain Lilac) pollen, and the Mustard was in full swing as well. I made a few divides from the stronger hives that I found and continued on to another group of hives. My next hive inspection brought me to a hive with no apparent activity. Though sometimes this can be misleading. Times when I think I have come upon a “dead out” only to find it teaming with activity. So I cautiously pried the lid off to see what is going on with this hive. It was eerily silent. Out of the corner of my I spotted a group of 10 to 12 big Wasps congregating in one general area. The hive was not your typical dead out. Usually a hive that no longer has any bees in it for one reason or another has a certain look and smell to it. This hive seemed to still have signs of recent activity and I could still see pollen and unattended brood in the upper box. I pulled off the top box, with the wasps still moving slowly about, and put it aside. I decided to look down in the lower box to see if I could determine what happened to this hive, bees will rarely leave unhatched brood so this was quite unusual. As I pulled out a frame from the bottom box I noticed dead honeybees attached to the bottom of the frame of empty honeycomb. It was obvious that these bees had not been dead long because of the tell tale smell that was present. To get a better look at the bottom of the hive I pulled out all of the frames in the lower box. What I saw was a layer of dead bees approximately 2 to 3 inches deep. This, I estimated, to represent a population of ten thousand honeybees, but what could have happened ! I had never seen anything like this before. As I sat there the first thing that came to mind was pesticides, but that wouldn’t make sense, since none of the other hives were affected, and besides if they were hit by some type of spray they would never have made it back to the hive. I decided to take a closer look. I started sifting through the layer of dead bees and then I noticed something odd, every single bee was decapitated, her head cut off from the rest of her body. At first I thought it was maybe just one or two but as I continued to inspect to my amazement every last bee was decapitated. I turned my head to the top box and realized it was the wasps. Wasps are very much more dexterous than the honeybees and though they usually never interact, in this instance the honeybees lack of dexterity proved fatal to the whole colony. The carnivorous wasps had found some easy prey. It was years later that I happened to see this unusual activity documented in a nature program.

Posted by Brian Cox at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As I drove to Santa Barbara late yesterday afternoon, I did not know I would be spending the night in Santa Barbara. Along the way, there were four lane closures on the freeway due to fallen trees. When my wife called me at 7:45pm, she said our entire roof from the back patio had been ripped off. Our electric cart had been pushed into the street and the kids car seats were blowing away. By the time morning came, our fence was down. All-in-all, not so bad, but a stressful night for the family. How did others fare?

Posted by Kenley Neufeld at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Prior to my arrival in Ojai, I had zero knowledge regarding the detrimental impact that pesticides have on our environment. After living at Full Circle Farm, I became aware of the enormous hidden costs of pesticide use and became a staunch economic supporter (voting with my dollar) of organic food. Farmer and the Cook -located in Meiners Oaks - took me to the next level; combining 100% percent organic food along with supporting and encouraging locally grown produce. After fully embracing these life sustaining practices, I'd heard thru word of mouth that Ojai used more pesticides than anywhere else in Ventura County. But, after some researching, I found that this heresay was unfounded...

According to the organization: Californians for Pesticide Reform, Ojai ranks at the bottom. Meanwhile, Ojai Unified School District lists all the pesticides that are used on school grounds here. The one that I am familiar with is RoundUp.

Posted by Mike Didj at 02:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

It is fairly obvious to those of us who live in Ojai that the review of the Troesh Ready-Mix proposal as conducted by agencies in Santa Barbara County would best be described as a joke if the consequences to our community were not so grave.

Most of you have heard or read about the pending approval of this project that would put scores of double hopper gravel trucks on Route 33 at all hours of the day and night in numbers that have the potential to snarl traffic and threaten the life and safety of citizens in our valley. Now is the time to take action by emailing your disapproval of this project to Gary Kaiser at gkaiser@co.santa-barbara.ca.us

It doesn't matter whether you've been here six months, ten years or were born here. If you care, the time to act is now before it is irrevocably too late. All it takes is an email or a letter.

Earlier this year, VCEDA, the Ventura County Economic Development Association, in coordination with an ad hoc Water Coalition generated upwards of a thousand individual email petitions to protest the dumping of chloride salts into the Santa Clara River by the LA Sanitation Department. Those email where an essential part of a successful campaign to have the Regional Water Board vote 6-0 to reign in LA San.

If all of your truly care about the valley half as much as you claim here on the Ojai Post, I urge you to set aside your partisan differences, act now, and encourage all of your friends and family to do the same. If we can stop LA, we can stop Santa Barbara.

First: Route 33 north of Ojai to the Santa Barbara County line is mile for mile already one of the most dangerous highways in all of California. A simple check with the California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Forest Service or the ambulance services in Ojai will inform you that during any given week there are at least one to two fatal or near fatal wrecks in the mountains.

Second: Though the EIR report appears to describe 33 as a rural highway that is completely false. Above Ojai it is Scenic Highway, but once you pass Fairview heading south it is the main and at times only traffic artery through the heart of this valley, home to some thirty thousand residents. It passes by our hospital, high school and numerous senior citizen mobile home parks.

Third: Route 33 is already surpasses its maximum traffic loads, particularly during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Adding double long gravel trucks at all hours is not going to help this situation.

Fourth: The numbers given as projections for the number of trips and the hours permitted by these trucks can also only be described as woven only from ones imagination as gravel trucks are already exceeding these limits now. Trucks currently descend into Ojai each morning at least as early as 5:00am and run late into the night. There is no oversight or enforcement of current rules. How can we expect this scenario to improve?

Fifth: Though it may be in the power of Santa Barbara to approve these permits, it is totally within the right and ability of the citizens of the Ojai Valley to protest this dangerous intrusion. Not only is protesting an art form in this valley, I don't think it is something a public official will want to tangle with. I am encouraging everyone I know to start by immediately emailing Gary Kaiser at the Santa Barbara Planning & Development Department gkaiser@co.santa-barbara.ca.us their personal disapproval of this permit. All public comments must be received before January 19, 2007.

Send copies of your emails to the Ventura County Star: letters@venturacountystar.com and the Ojai Valley News:
bret@ojaivalleynews.com

Posted by Howard Smith at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

When our family moved to the United States in 1974, we stopped in Israel and Jordan to visit some of the holy places. I remember visiting the wailing wall, calvary, and the location of Christ's tomb. Though I was only 7, it left an impression on me. Richard Nixon resigned a month after our arrival. I have vague memories of these times but I can honestly say the first President I really remember is Jimmy Carter. Carter has been a hero of mine for many years because of his honesty, integrity, and his work for peace. In particular, the Carter Center, founded by Carter, has the goal for advancing human rights and alleviating suffering. Recently I read his new book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid with great interest. I was curious to see what this prominent Nobel Peace Prize winner had to say about the Middle East, especially in using the word 'apartheid' in the title.

The book is an easy read and written in a very casual manner. It begins with a personal history of his experience with the Middle East and how he came to know the region. The language and experience is rich in Christian religious experience and may make some people roll their eyes a bit. An overview of the key players is reviewed followed by the political efforts made by the United States from Reagan through W. It could certainly seem depressing after reading through all the material and history, but Carter is clear in his summary:

Despite these immediate challenges, we must not assume that the future is hopeless. Down through the years I have seen despair and frustration evolve into optimism and progress and, even now, we must not abandon efforts to acheive permanent peace for Israelis and freedom and justice for Palestinians.

Carter provides three clear options:

• A forcible annexation of Palestine and its legal absorption into Israel. Israel would be further isolated and condemned by the international community, with no remaining chance to end hostilities with any appreciable part of the Arab world.
• A system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separted from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. This is the policy now being followed.
• Withdrawel to the 1967 border as specificed in U.N. Resolution 242 and as promised in the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Agreement and prescribed in the Roadmap of the International Quartet. This is the most attractive option and the only one that can ultimately be acceptable as a basis for peace. One version of this choice was spelled out in the Geneva Initiative.

To help us understand the history of the conflict, though many of us have lived through the years of all these efforts, will provide a good overview leading to the current crisis situation in the Middle East. If you are interested in a more detailed history that goes back a few millenium, try reading the new book by Milton Viorst called Storm from the East: The Struggle Between the Arab World and the Christian West, another excellent and easy read.

Though the two titles mentioned above take a more global and political perspective, I am a firm believer in finding peace within oneself in order to help find peace in the world. My teacher has helped to support a program called "Peace Begins with Myself" that was created and coordinated by two members of the Israel Sangha in 2001. A space was created for Israelis and Palestinians to come together in dialogue. The main emotion expressed in this dialogue was fear, but the feedback was all hopeful and positive.

We, Palestinians and Israelis, lived with harmony, love, and compassion. It was very easy to interact positively with each other, we showed much understanding even though our house is burning and been destroyed.

Give peace a chance.

Posted by Kenley Neufeld at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ventura County launches new effort to track gangs

Prompted by rising gang crime in unincorporated areas, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved creation of a special sheriff's gang patrol.

The detail of two deputies, a senior deputy and a sergeant will track gang activity in the Ojai Valley, Fillmore and unincorporated communities near Ventura and Santa Paula at an annual cost of $792,000.

Sheriff's officials estimate there are more than 500 active gang members and 11 active gangs in the targeted areas, contributing to an increase in violent assaults, robberies and graffiti.

This year, three people were fatally shot in Saticoy, all by suspected gang members, authorities said. There have been several other shootings and beatings tied to gangs in the El Rio, Saticoy and Ojai areas, they said.

The board's unanimous support for the gang detail comes three years after Sheriff Bob Brooks disbanded a similar countywide unit to save money.

Revenues have rebounded enough to begin rebuilding the detail, though it will be smaller and will focus exclusively on gangs, said Sheriff's Chief Deputy Geoff Dean. Oxnard and other large cities have their own gang enforcement units, he said.

Several supervisors said residents have complained about a rise in gang graffiti on neighborhood walls, highway signs and even agricultural netting. Supervisor Steve Bennett said a similar gang unit has curbed violence in Ventura.

"People say everyone knows who the gang members are, but building a case takes a while," Bennett said. "I saw it work very effectively in Ventura."

Posted by Raymond Powers at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Good morning, everyone.

I hope that your holiday plans are meeting your needs, and i hope you’ve been able to shop your values. I am writing simply to let you know that as of this morning there have been 2,954 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, which means we’re only 46 away from 3,000. The past 14 days have averaged to just over 2 deaths per day, so at that rate we could see the 3,000th by January 11th or 12th. OR, something horrendous could happen and we could be vigiling by Christmas. The nature of this event requires paying attention and being flexible.

At any rate, the Ojai Peace Coalition has teamed up with the American Friends Service Committee to hold a vigil the day after the 3,000th death is confirmed. Please get more info and register to attend HERE, and forward this message to people you know in the area. Talk it up, and let’s get a nice healthy showing to honor and mourn together. I’m going to suggest that we wear white (or light colors, anyway...we’re going to need to dress very warmly, and i know not everyone’s got white coats) for a few reasons:
white is the color of mourning in many countries
white will make us easier to see
white will make us look more like angels and less like vampires, particularly if the Nativity is still up in front of Vons when we do this.

Let’s please bring candles, and if you choose to bring signs be sure that they are easily readable, positively stated, pro-peace, and respectful/mournful of the deaths that we’re marking (the Iraqi deaths are estimated at 655,000). You may choose to bring in a faith-based element if you wish, particularly if the Nativity is still up. For those of you who go to church, announce it.

ALSO, i’d like 3 volunteers to make single posterboards with giant number zeros on them. I have a capital letter E from our last spell-out that i can turn upside down and use for a “3”. If you can buy one poster (they cost perhaps a dollar at most, and can be found at Rite-Aid) and make a giant number zero on it, please let me know. We could also use some simple tagline-like phrases or questions like “how many more?” or “too many” or “not one more death”. The ASFC’s campaign is called “Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar”, so there’s an element of de-funding the war too. Feel free to add that in. as of now, the war has cost us and our children’s children’s children 352 BILLION dollars, and by early january it’ll be much higher. Ventura County’s bill currently exceeds $1.2 BILLION. Keep up-to-date yourself by going here.
This event is also listed at Ojai Events.

i hate to be a downer, but as Brett Dennen sings so beautifully, "The holidays are here, and we're still at war." Please celebrate for those who cannot, and let's keep our peace energy strong going into 2007.

Posted by evan austin at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Tonight on Radio Ojai, my friend Matt and I finally touched on a topic that everyone here has a strong opinion about. Any way you slice it, it seems to bring little to the table except divisiveness and at times bitter disagreement. It’s a controversial subject tackled by yours truly, an Ojai resident of nearly 8 years, and Matt, who has been here practically his whole life.

We're talking about the Oldies vs. the Newbies in Ojai. But at the end of the debate, what truly matters most? For the answer, tune into Radio Ojai for the Ojai Moment with Lisa and Matt, then weigh in here (but be nice)!

Posted by Lisa Snider at 07:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Huffington Post is having a little contest where readers can leave six-word New Year's Resolutions - they borrowed the idea from magazine SMITH, which had a Six Word Memoir Contest. A few examples from HuffPo:

Act honorably or be held accountable.
I'm the Person of the Year.
We are all in this together
Seek peace. Give love. Bring joy.

So The Ojai Post is opening up the comments to six word entries with this theme: "Ojai 2006 in Six Words." Might I offer a handful:

Hot in February, hotter in July
Joe in, David out, Olsen back
Farewell Frostie - miss your turkey burgers
Cathy Jones doesn't recognize Bruce Norris

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The National Weather Service has issued a Frost Advisory for early Tuesday morning and a Freeze Watch for Wednesday early AM.

A Frost Advisory means that affected areas can expect at least two hours of subfreezing temperatures between 28 and 32 degrees...with possible damage to crops and tender vegetation. Measures should be taken to protect sensitive crops and vulnerable animals should be kept indoors in a barn or similar structure.

A Freeze Watch means sub-freezing temperatures below 28 degrees for at least two hours are possible. These conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation.

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 09:24 PM | Permalink

In our beautiful land od Avocado orchards this is quite the dichotomy.

Lawsuit stirs up guacamole labeling controversy

By Jerry Hirsch
Times Staff Writer
Published November 30, 2006

Peanut butter is made from peanuts, tomato paste is made from tomatoes, and guacamole is made from avocados, right?

Wrong. The guacamole sold by Kraft Foods Inc., one of the bestselling avocado dips in the nation, includes modified food starch, hefty amounts of coconut and soybean oils, and a dose of food coloring. The dip contains precious little avocado, but many customers mistake it for wholly guacamole.

On Wednesday, a Los Angeles woman sued the Northfield, Ill.-based food company, alleging that it committed fraud by calling its dip "guacamole." Her lawyer says suits against other purveyors of "fake guacamole" could be filed soon.

FOR THE RECORD:
Guacamole lawsuit: An article in Thursday's Business section about a lawsuit alleging that Kraft Foods Inc. committed fraud in labeling a dip as guacamole referred to the product as one of the bestselling avocado dips in the nation. In fact, Kraft's product is ranked No. 13 among guacamole dips and has only a 3% dollar share of the guacamole-flavored-dip segment, according to market researcher ACNielsen. —

The suit, which seeks class-action status, highlights the liberty some food companies take in labeling their products.

If consumers read the fine print, they would discover that Kraft Dips Guacamole contains less than 2% avocado. But few of them do. California avocado growers, who account for 95% of the nation's avocado crop, said they didn't know that store-bought guacamole contained little of their produce.

"We have not looked at this issue, but we might follow it now that we are aware of it," said Tom Bellamore, the top lawyer at the California Avocado Commission in Irvine.

Kraft and other food companies said they weren't deceiving customers by skimping on the avocado. A Kraft spokeswoman said most people understood that guacamole was part of the company's line of flavored dips.

"We think customers understand that it isn't made from avocado," said Claire Regan, Kraft Foods' vice president of corporate affairs. "All of the ingredients are listed on the label for consumers to reference."

Nonetheless, Kraft is relabeling the product, which could not be found during a random check of six Southern California supermarkets this week.

Regan said the company was changing its label to make it clearer that it was selling guacamole-flavored dip. She said she was not familiar with the lawsuit.

Brenda Lifsey, the plaintiff, said she made a three-layer dip with Kraft guacamole last year only to discover that it contained almost none of the ingredient she most expected: avocado.

"It just didn't taste avocadoey," said Lifsey, who identified herself as a federal employee who lives in Los Angeles. "I looked at the ingredients and found there was almost no avocado in it."

In her suit against Kraft, Lifsey is asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop Kraft from marketing the dip as guacamole. She also wants attorneys' fees and unspecified punitive damages.

Lifsey has been a plaintiff in other lawsuits against large corporations. A few years ago, she joined a lawsuit against Sears, claiming that the retailer misrepresented that its Craftsman tools were U.S. made. That case is still in the courts. She also was part of a suit filed last year against vehicle reporting service Carfax Inc., alleging that it did not have access to police accident reports in California and other states even though it advertised that it could provide vehicle history records. Carfax denied the claims.

Unlike peanut butter, which by law must contain at least 90% peanuts, the Food and Drug Administration has no legal standard mandating how much avocado should be in guacamole. The FDA requires only that the labeling be truthful and not misleading, agency spokesman Michael Herndon said.

"For FDA to say that the food is misbranded because it contains only a small amount of avocado, we would have to find that the labeling is misleading, which would likely require some consumer data to prove the labeling is misleading," he said.

Consumer advocates say the FDA should either set standards or force Kraft and other manufacturers to better disclose how little avocado is in their dips.

"It is really deceptive marketing," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, which three years ago called for more accurate labeling of guacamole dips.

At the time, Jacobson said the companies were "begging to be sued."

Like much of the prepared guacamole sold in supermarkets, Kraft guacamole is essentially a whipped paste made from partially hydrogenated soybean and coconut oils, corn syrup, whey and food starch. Yellow and blue dyes give it the green color.

That's probably not what the Aztecs had in mind when they invented guacamole about 700 years ago. They made a sauce called ahuaca-mulli, which roughly translates to "avocado mixture," according to the avocado commission. The dip was prepared by mashing avocados, sometimes with tomatoes and onions in a molcajete, a Mexican mortar and pestle.

In the modern recipe, some cooks add lime juice to keep the guacamole from discoloring. The dip has become an American tradition, especially on Super Bowl Sunday. About 50 million pounds of guacamole were consumed during the big game this year, according to the Hass Avocado Board in Irvine.

Kraft declined to give U.S. sales figures for its guacamole dip but said it was a very small-volume product.

With the right potato masher, making guacamole can be easier than pie. Brands such as Trader Joe's, Yucatan and Calavo use mainly avocado in their guacamole. But other companies opt for cellulose gum, avocado powder and ample food coloring.

When it acquired the Dean's food line last year, Ventura Foods of Brea discovered that Dean's Zesty Guacamole Dip contained skim milk, eggs and some avocado pulp. But Ventura decided not to change the recipe, said Christina Ong, a company marketing manager.

"I have no idea what consumers expect," she said.

Many consumers say they expect to find lots of avocado in their guacamole.

"This is surprising: It's skim milk, oil and soybean," said Long Beach utility worker Dave Oehlman as he read the ingredient list of an Albertson's brand at the supermarket chain's store on Spring Street in Long Beach. "You would have thought they would put more avocado in this."

"You have to keep it green. How do they do that?" he asked before reading the label that disclosed the doses of food coloring.

His companion, Christy Cloughy, said, "I'm going to stick to avocado."

Posted by Raymond Powers at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On December 7, 2006, the California Public Utilities Commission issued a Proposed Decision regarding Distributed Generation Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in the California Solar Initiative (CSI) proceeding. President Peevey is the assigned Commissioner and Maryam Ebke is the Administrative Law Judge.
The proposal will be on the January 11th Commission meeting agenda. Comments are due 20 days from today and reply comments are due 5 days after that.
The Proposed Decision allows renewable Distributed Generation owners to maintain ownership of all their RECs irrespective of whether or not they participate in the CSI, Self-Generation Incentive Program, or net metering programs.

The proposal determines that RECs are one among several factors that may affect the economics of solar and other renewable Distributed Generation facilities, and as such may play an important role in driving the deployment of renewable Distributed Generation in California. In particular they will impact the achievement of the goals of Senate Bill 1.
The overriding goal of this Bill is to ultimately deliver a self sustaining solar market in which ratepayer incentives are no longer needed to promote the installation of distributed generation solar facilities.

Posted by Michael Lind at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In preparation for what promises to be an outstanding festival this coming May, The Ojai Poetry Festival just launched a newly redesigned website where you can learn more about the biennial event that brings famous poets such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Galway Kinnell, Robert Bly, Jane Hirshfield, and Gary Snyder to Ojai. The festival is made possible through generous sponsors and loyal, fun-loving volunteers. If you are at all interested in helping out, come check out the next volunteer's meeting on January 8th at 7PM in the Ojai Library.

Also, if you or your company are looking to make some tax-deductible donations before the end of the year, why not support the literary arts in your own backyard? Contact the Ojai Poetry Festival for details on the benefits of sponsoring this organization, which brings poetry into Ojai Valley schools, sponsors spoken word events for local poets, and awards the Stan Brown Teen Poetry Prize to encourage local teens to see themselves as writers in the larger literary world. With your help, support, and patronage, this year's festival promises to be the best one yet. Sign up for the newsletter to stay current with news leading up to the festival and to be notified when tickets go on sale.

Posted by Robert Peake at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

"Listen to what I am about to sing.
Listen to my stamping.
I tear up the ground.
Listen to my groaning.

"Look! Listen!
She grunts on high.
Mother Earth shakes.
In the night she makes a noise like thunder.

Clear the way!
I am a creature of power.
I stand up and begin to walk to the Mountain top.
To every corner of this world.

I am a creature of power."

Posted by Millennium Twain at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Turning slime into gas
By TOM FITZSIMONS | Saturday, 16 December 2006

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/3901432a30.html
That slime at the bottom of your local pond could be just the thing for your car - and the planet.

A world-first bio-diesel, derived from wild algae in sewage ponds, was launched in Wellington yesterday.
It could potentially burn 90 per cent cleaner than standard diesel. Energy Minister David Parker and Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons took a spin yesterday in a four-wheel-drive vehicle filled with the new fuel. Barry Leay, a spokesman for Aquaflow, the Marlborough firm that developed the fuel, said it was believed no other country had got so far with the same product.

"This will come as a surprise to some international bio-diesel industry people who believe that this breakthrough is still years away." Mr Parker said the new technology had three big benefits for New Zealand - "climate change benefits, cleaning up our water and reducing our dependence on overseas fuels". After the drive around Wellington, Mr Parker said he could not tell the difference from ordinary fuel. "It went perfectly - on the motorway, in a traffic jam and around the local streets."
Mr Leay said the bio-diesel could eventually reach a 100 per cent level, replacing the ordinary diesel component entirely. The trade-off was a 3 per cent loss in energy efficiency, but that would be "barely noticeable".

Posted by Raymond Powers at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Perhaps you've read about Second Life in Wired or Forbes or the NY Times. It's a 3D online world that has grown from 150,000 people at the start of the year to over 2 million as of today. If you're online, send me (Greater Goode) an IM, or join Clan of the Ojai Moon (search Groups for Clan). See you in SL!

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Attention Ojai: We will begin demolition of that damn Matilija Dam February 1st 2007. My budget does not have room for kickbacks, bribes, red taped BS or any other unnecessary expenses. It's all about reducing overhead not increasing it, kind of a 180 from the norm.

OK Ojai, you with me so far? The workforce will all come from nearby communities as much as possible. We will use donated munitions from the obsolete inventories or our various ubiquitous military installations to take it down as neatly as those silly twin sky scapers were.

The various debris will then be recycled and used to help shore up the various troubled roads that were damaged by the recent floods.

Posted by Mike Didj at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I want to thank Brandon from the bottom of my plastic heart for declaring me one of the leaders of Ojai. Initially, the undeserved honor shocked me: "Me, a leader... wha... huh?..." But now, 20 or 30 minutes of time passing, has allowed me to integrate this new data. So, without further ado, I shall begin to lead...

Ojai will begin construction of a cement skateboard park starting March 1st 2007. Ojai will start a limo service for surfers so they can travel in style to nearby point breaks by February 3rd 2007. Ojai will construct a wave machine to help surfers train - I want this completed by June 2007.

Alrighty then, this is just the beginning. Further instructions will be delivered when ever I feel like it...

Oh yeah, hey Brandon, you want a job or something?

Posted by Mike Didj at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

ETA VTA, a blog about Ventura, launched today and its first entry takes a stab at Ojai Post! Read on:

Tonight I stumbled on a site very similar to ETA VTA that focuses on Ojai, the little, rich, hippie/yuppie, community just to the north of us. The Ojai Post is written by a large group of Ojai locals who, to say the least, are, ummm...interesting. The following are actual excerpts from their bios that illustrate what kind of community Ojai is...

Brandon goes on to pick out a handful of author bios, and concludes with:

These are the community leaders of Ojai for better or for worse. I have no problem with them, I'm a very liberal person myself, I just don't take myself seriously enough to ever write anything like that. I'm not sure that any of them have a sense of humor because if they did, their bios wouldn't be so damn funny.

Well, I guess we should be flattered; we've been noticed...again!

Posted by Lisa Snider at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Recently, Howard Smith wrote a piece about the values around customer service in big business. Here is my story, with a very happy ending.

I received a catalog called Isabella in the mail. Beautiful things in the spiritual, new age, Buddhist vein. One item stood out to me: a simple necklace of three silver droplets on a leather thong. Written on one of the silver droplets was the word "Peace."

What stood out to me about this necklace was the contradiction between the sentiment expressed (Peace) and the leather it was strung on. To me, one of the greatest examples of violence and disconnection in our culture is the institution of factory farming and slaughter, the source of that leather. So I wrote a letter. It was passionate and hurried, and I didn't keep a copy. What I remember is that I asked that they reconsider carrying the product.

To my great surprise, today I received this letter in the mail:

"Heather,
Thank you for your letter about our Peace Trilogy Necklace and the contradiction between the stated purpose of the necklace and the material it's made of. While we've heard from several other customers about this same issue, your letter was the final blow, so to speak. We asked the vendor to put this necklace on faux leather months ago, but she wasn't willing to make that change. We just said "Oh well, we tried," and were going to let it go at that. However, after getting your letter, we've let the vendor know that we're pulling the neklace from the catalog if we cant' get it without leather.
Thank you for being so adamant and eloquent about this issue. Because you and others are willing to speak up, you are helping to make a change.
Sincerely,
Mary Arter"

I am thrilled with this response. I love that other people have also expressed concerns. I love that they are willing to take a stand. And I love that they are hoping to continue working with this particular vendor if she makes this small change.

I am elated, in this sometimes dismal world, to have helped make a change. I encourage you to take this holiday season as your opportunity to shop within your values. Evan's post can help. Don't let the lights and shiny, colorful objects in the big box stores suck you in - choose gifts and decorations that fit your budget and your values!

Posted by Heather McKenzie at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Following a controversial decision by Ventura Community College, local poet Gwendolyn Alley will give up hosting Spoken Word Salon at Zoey's Cafe in Ventura in order to keep her teaching job. The final reading will be held on Thursday, December 21st at 7:30 PM at Zoey's Cafe. They're going out in style, featuring Ryan Gillenwater, host of Train of Thought at the Bell Arts Factory, Roe Estep, host of the Artist's Union Gallery reading series, and Jackson Wheeler, co-editor of SOLO and host of the long-standing Arcade Poetry Series in Oxnard. Come hear outstanding local talent, participate in the open mic, enjoy great drinks, and pay tribute to a series that has featured some 200 poets in the past five years - and the remarkable woman behind it all. This is an evening not to be missed.

Posted by Robert Peake at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

In an era of mass recalls, the notion of fighting for your ride seems absurd. But that’s exactly what happened with the General Motors’ EV-1 electric car. Its story is told in the remarkable "Who Killed the Electric Car," screened last month at the Ojai Playhouse. The story of the EV-1 is an extraordinary tale of how the confluence of hyper greed and sheer stupidity resulted in the calculated destruction of a visionary car program which could well have paved the way to an end to America’s addiction to Middle Eastern oil and the associated costs in human life and tax dollars.

The EV-1 was an American technical triumph, years ahead of foreign competition. Made in response to California’s zero emission mandate, the EV-1 turned the electric car stereotype on its head, with jack rabbit acceleration (0-60 in 8.5 seconds), a top end of 80 miles per hour, and a range of over 140 miles between charges.

Drivers fell in love with GM’s amazing car, pleading with the auto giant to be allowed to keep their cars at the end of their leases. GM, citing an absence of demand in the face of overwhelming customer satisfaction, ended the program.

Big auto and big oil, with the generous assistance of the Bush administration, sued the state of California to gut its zero emission mandate. In the end, the troika succeeded in killing it, and with it the mandate for the electric car. The electric cars were captured and crushed, the oil industry reaped profits of $140 billion in 2005, and the Bush administration affirmed its spoon posture with petroleum companies while publicly admonishing America’s addiction to oil.

These days, we are so accustomed to stories of big company gluttony that many of us are numb to their messages of misery and injustice. But there is something about this story and the way it is told that managed to awaken some jaded nerves in the audience. To be sure, there is plenty of fuel for outrage in this film, but I think there is something especially sad about the sight of these intrepid cars being crushed that is a lightening rod to our righteousness. The dying cars manifest much of what is right about America – its vision, innovation, and creativity. Their deaths represent America at its very worst – ignorance, short-sidedness, and blinding greed. In the end, Gigantor wins, everyone else loses. The irony is that, ultimately, Gigantor loses too, as the infinitesimally few that profit are merely fiddling while their planet burns.

Believe-it-or-not, there is a glimmer of hope. While Americans cannot rely on big auto, big oil, or government to kick America’s oil addiction and its associated toll on the environment, human life, and our economy, we still have enormous power to direct change by voting with our wallets. Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are available today, and more are expected to enter the market in the coming years. Some of these are not the golf carts we have come to expect. The exotic Tesla Roadster, backed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, uses a Lotus design, is very fast (0-60 in under 4 seconds!) and can run for 250 miles between charges. Despite GM’s assertion that there is no demand for electric cars, the $100,000 2007 Tesla Roadster is completely sold out.

If you have not already seen “Who Killed the Electric Car,” I encourage you to check out the DVD. The website is pretty nifty too: http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar. For more information, on electric cars and plug-in hybrids, check out http://www.pluginamerica.com.

Posted by Todd Miller at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

We Have A Ruling!

Last week, Judge Ken Riley of the Ventura Superior Court granted my demurrer to Monte Widders' complaint, without leave to amend.

Translation: The court ruled that the city attorney's lawsuit on its face fails as a matter of law. The lawsuit never should have been filed, and cannot continue.

I am delighted and relieved. Thanks to Jay Leiderman for his strong efforts so far, thanks to Judge Riley for putting an end to this portion of the case, and thanks to all the members of the community who have supported this fight.

The court did not grant my anti-SLAPP motion, which would have had the same effect of dismissing the case, but requires the mandatory award of fees. There was no ruling on my request for fees, costs and sanctions on other grounds. I am reviewing this aspect of the ruling, and it looks like we still may have to appeal this portion. If so, we are only at the end of the beginning of the legal battle. If we take it on appeal, the city's misguided action may yet be fodder for what may be an important appellate ruling for the right to initiative and anti-SLAPP law.

The ruling also comes too late for the recent election, and too late for meaningful discussions of the underlying issues that could have taken place in the run-up to the election. I understand the city council has voted to put the underlying issues of affordable housing and chain stores downtown on upcoming council agendas in January. I have not been contacted or invited to be a part of this, and to my knowledge, none of the people who have been interested in the initiatives have been invited to be any part of whatever the city council is planning. Whether it is mere window dressing, or a first salvo at serious engagement of important issues, or a platform for us to hear about a new proposed massive "affordable" million dollar-condo development - to be subsidized by the taxpayers in order to defray the downturn in the market? - has yet to be seen.

This has been a painful battle to date, and looks like it unfortunately will continue. The fundamental imbalance of the city supporting Mr. Widders and his team of lawyers with taxpayer dollars - how many we can only guess - while I bear the burden in time, distraction and money I don't have only makes it worse. I hope the time for accountability is beginning. We could start by getting answers to a few questions:

1. How much has the city spent on this lawsuit? What was accomplished? Who benefited?

2. How can we prevent this misuse of our tax dollars and city resources in the future? Will the city at least publicly commit that it will not unlawfully impede initiatives in the future? That it will not authorize lawsuits against citizens who are trying to exercise their rights to participate and petition? Or must we expect more of the same?

3. Who was responsible for this lawsuit being filed? Was it Monte Widders leading an uncomprehending council? Was it the council directing Monte Widders to squash these initiatives despite his better advice? Was it just the blind leading the blind? What happened during the closed sessions?

4. The city council had multiple opportunities to listen and use common sense and responsible judgment to stop this lawsuit. Instead, every word I uttered, verbally during my "three minutes" at the podium or in writing, fell on deaf ears. Every word of the numerous citizens who spoke, wrote letters and editorials, and called, fell on deaf ears. What I told the council from the beginning about this misguided course of action is now coming true, and I expect will continue to come true. How can we get responsiveness in this council? Open ears and dialogue are always the preferable course. How can we make that happen between citizens and council? Are we doomed to debacle from a council that will not hear what is being said, only who is saying it?

5. Two members of the city council are in their seats after voting for this lawsuit, and permitting Monte Widders to seek its continuance beyond the election. Would they be in their seats if the public had the court's ruling before the election? Do we need a do-over? Carol Smith's margin looks large enough to say no with respect to her. But Joe Devito won by less than 80 votes over an attorney who was bound by his professional training, knowledge of the law and common sense to say that this lawsuit should never have been filed and would be dismissed. Joe Devito skated to victory on a public spin that this lawsuit was proper. Does this ruling not sway 80 voters toward the realization that perhaps attorney Lenny Klaif would be better suited to protect the city than Joe Devito? (Does this ruling not perhaps sway Joe Devito himself toward that possibility?)

Finally: Where do we go from here? The city filed a bogus lawsuit, and demonstrated that it will pursue a bogus lawsuit as far as it can rather than engage in dialog. The chilling lesson could be that it is futile to try to participate. I hope by fighting this, and continuing to fight it, that the lesson we all take away - council included - will be just the opposite.

- Jeff Furchtenicht

Link to Ballot Initiative Resource Page

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I address myself to persons with whom I find myself in a cross fertilization of political communication, via the Ojai Valley News, Ojai Post, Ventura County Reporter, Star, and Voice. If you have not been following the political discourse lately, you will miss nuances but the essentials are evident.

1) I am not a socialist. I believe in qualified rights of private property.

2) I believe that capitalism is a loose cannon that will sink our earth ship, if not held in place by a higher value system, such as personism or lovism.

3) Ojai's Los Arboles residents are just as welcome and valuable as anyone else. Los Arboles should be grandfathered in, along with other oversized, outdated houses, and serve as examples of what not to do in the
future age of sustainability.

4) The misunderstandings about Los Arboles vis a vis the Libbey Bowl concerts arose from the city's arbitrarily cancelling the concerts, while giving no reason for doing so. In the absence of information, speculation arose that Los Arboles residentscomplained, which is false according to a recent comment on the Ojai Post. To date, there has been no official explanation for why the concerts were cancelled, or who was responsible.

5) Interpretation of Ojai election results is a matter of opinion. I interpret over one third of Ojai votes for challengers as a substantial desire for change in leadership and policy.

6) Enlightenment is a progressive concept, that has little to do with quantity. It relates to associated values, such as truth, justice and love. I see the one third who voted for change as being more politically enlightened than the two thirds who voted for the status quo. That's debatable, and I would welcome debate on the subject.

7) I am just now bringing out my "big guns" which are ideas, not quantitative votes, or pecking order seats in a council chamber. Ideas whose time has come are truly shocking and awesome.

8) My camper is a gas guzzler only if I drive it, which I seldom do. I ride a bicycle or walk practically everywhere. Parked in front of the Oaks, it does illustrate two different classes, but to posit "class envy" is unnecessary, unfounded speculation.

9) If Los Arboles units are 2000-3000 sq. ft., and there are 22 of them (per Hammerschmidt), assuming 2500 sq. ft. as an average, then 55 1000 sq. ft. units could have been built instead, while keeping most of the trees, views of the park, providing more sales tax revenue from more people, less commuting and waste of gas for local workers, while providing equal property taxes, and opportunities for low cost housing.

10) We can thus have our cake of a beautiful, just and stable community and have lowered housing costs too,
if capitalism / moneyism excesses can be reined in by enlightened government.

11) We live in a capitalist society only because capitalists have forced their will upon us, contrary to reason and law. The general principles of our country are expressed in statements such as "We the People," "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," "one nation under God with liberty and justice for all," "all men are created equal," and "in God we trust" on the dollar bill. These principles came from an enlightened minority (probably less than one third) in the Age of Enlightenment. Private property and capital are subsidiary, derivative rights to these self-evident truths and inalienable rights. As far as God goes, I don't recall Her favoring so much the wealthy, as being concerned for social
justice and needs of the poor. In the Christian version, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

12) Generalizations can be misleading but they can also be useful. One useful generalization is that persons have higher value than money (capital). "We the People" is higher value statement than "We the Capitalists," not to speak of being more lawful. In the 1800's, robber barons, with the complicity of the courts, forced the idea that corporations are persons into common law, against constitutional law. Money talks, but seldom truthfully, as in this case of rich persons hiding behind unjust corporate law.

13) Unqualified, capitalist spin promotes ideas such as free market, supply and demand, invisible hand, and property rights to prop up an unjust, cruel system. They are seemingly inpenetrable myths, which actually are full of holes and hold little water. If unchecked, they result in "population replacement," as one writer on the Ojai Post put it. In biblical
times, imperial regimes like Babylon relocated whole populations by force. Nowadays, it's more subtle but it is still unjust, and it's happening in Ojai, on a small scale.

14) Space dictates brevity, so I must forgoe more detailed analysis here, and be content to settle my big guns in place, while throwing a few ropes about the loose cannon, unenlightened capitalism.

- Dennis Leary

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

of all time ... which is the now, the realtime!

this discussion group, DiosasAncianos2012, is the first
major public collaboration of my wife Megumi and I.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DiosasAncianos2012/

the subject ...

the kamisama ..

..
...

our experience!

...
..
.

of the 'me', 'thee', and 'we' ..

throughout all 'herstory'!

..

yet witnessed,

in this semi-spherical valley,

known by the Chumash,

as 'Awha'y!

..

.

Posted by Millennium Twain at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

One of the most quotable individuals of the 20th century was Mahatma Gandhi. A quote I heard earlier this year at a retreat called Walking with Gandhi was, “A life of service must be one of humility…. True humility means strenuous and constant endeavor entirely directed towards the service of humanity. God is continuously in action without resting for a single moment. If we would serve Him or become one with Him, our activity must be as unwearied as His. …This restlessness constitutes true rest. This never-ceasing agitation holds the key to peace ineffable.” At this same retreat, our leader shared that we must do more than give money and time in our service to humanity, but we must endeavor to be with the poor and seek to understand. What did that mean? How could I apply this to my life here in Ojai? I put it on my list of things to do.

I realized that the poor exist in Ojai. I realized that there are homeless in Ojai. But how was I to connect with them on a regular, and hopefully, an intimate basis? Nine months later, I find myself as a volunteer for the Ojai Valley Family Shelter. This program runs from December 1 through March 30 every year. They have many volunteer opportunities on every day of the week for those four months. This seemed to be a possible answer to my aspiration to be with the poor.

My son Jasper and I will be spending the night at the Wesleyan Church on seven Sunday nights between now and April. I hope to make friends and learn to look deeply at what it means to be poor and homeless in Ojai. If you have the interest, check out the Ojai Valley Family Shelter web site and sign up to volunteer. As the months pass, I hope to share more about my experience.

Posted by Kenley Neufeld at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Just thinking that there are places in the world where little boys can't play in the streets because there is war. And in other places, like in my neighborhood, the little boys play wargames in the streets.

Posted by Heather McKenzie at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Just back from the Rose Bowl... GO BRUINS!

Posted by Tyler Suchman at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

For those who want to share Ojai’s bounty with friends and relatives who can’t be here for the holidays, why not create the perfect Ojai foodie gift basket and ship it on to them? Here are a few ideas:

Rains has shelves of private label sauces, salsas and mixes, and many local products including:
Ojai Cook’s Lemonaise, $4.
Lavender Scone Mix from local Susan McRae of California Lavender, $6.25.

Rainbow Bridge has lots of goodies, including Ojai’s own Zhena’s Gypsy Teas package in colorful tin canisters for around $6.

The Sunday Farmer’s Market has Ojai honey from Brian Cox (we’ve heard from him here on the Post!) of Ojai Valley Bee Farm, starting at $4 for a squeezable 12oz honey bear full of wildflower honey. While you’re there, pick up a small pillar calendar for $5. And across the way, Sandy Messori sells products from her local lavender farm including lavender mists for just $5.

Westridge Market has local organic wines from Casa Barranca, starting at $19 per bottle.

Jon at Coffee Connection sells bags of organic fair trade coffee. The beans aren’t grown here, but I can’t think of anyone better to buy from!

What else could you add?

Listen to an interview with Ojai Santa on Radio Ojai!
Previous Dishing Ojai columns start here.

Posted by Lisa Snider at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ahh, in the background so many variables that make us who we are. It's important to remember we are an ever evolving, conscious (sometimes) yet chemically driven organism. With this remembering we can allow oursleves some compassion for our ever fluctuating inner and outer orbits.

The discovery of DNA variability, holographic blueprints and the symphony of life
by Mike Adams

Announced with great fanfare in late November, 2006, scientists have discovered that human DNA is far more variable than previously thought. Contrary to previous beliefs, as much as 10 percent of human genes vary wildly from one person to the next. The mainstream press is hailing the discovery and some sort of breakthrough that will shed light on so-called "incurable" diseases and give researchers the ability to create more targeted medicines. (There's always a pro-Pharma slant in the mainstream media isn't there?) In reality, this new DNA discovery explains why most pharmaceuticals don't work for most people.

More importantly, this discovery humbles us, and shows us that even our top scientists know less about human DNA than they once thought. Researching DNA is a lot like researching astronomy: the more we learn, the less we realize we know. It's as if every newly discovered fact unveils the existence of ten new questions we never knew existed.

The mainstream media, in its usual limited view, is reporting this discovery as a breakthrough that will help scientists develop new drugs to treat disease. Every "Eureka!" moment having anything to do with the genetic code seems to lead the mainstream media to the same advertiser-pleasing conclusion, but they haven't even begun to realize the big story here. The real news in this discovery, you see, has nothing to do with pharmaceuticals or even medical science. It is larger and more profound than any of us could have possibly imagined.

Allow me to explain...

Where are all the missing blueprints?
Until today, it was widely believed that individual genes directly controlled physical traits in the human body (and even mental and behavioral traits, according to some), but now it turns out that a surprisingly large number of individuals have wild variations in their genetic code, such as multiple copies of the same gene or even entire genes that are missing from their DNA. And yet they're not walking around without a kidney, for example, or missing their left eyeball.

It's all quite shocking and rather difficult to explain from a Western point of view where scientists believe that DNA is like a computer program containing sequential instructions for building a physical organism. Truth is, there aren't enough genes in the human genome to even build a human being in the first place. A human has about 30,000 genes, yet an adult human has trillions of specialized cells governed by millions of different chemical reactions. How do 30,000 genes control all this?

Only a few years ago (2001), humans were believed to have 100,000 genes while all simple life forms contained far fewer. But this assumption of humans being some "advanced" life form turned out to be utterly false. It turns out that the mustard weed contains the same number of genes as humans, and even the common mouse has nearly as many. From certain types of worms to common trees, there are many organisms on the planet that have very nearly the same number of genes as human beings (and some have more).

Even more surprising to most, human beings appear to actually be human-bacteria hybrids. We are not all human, in other words. At least 200 genes in our genetic code were mysteriously borrowed from bacteria, we now know. Nobody is sure how they got there (did early humans mate with bacteria? Odd...), but we are sure that they exist.

Furthermore, if you look at the composition of cells in the typical human body, and you start counting them all, you realize that most of the cells in the typical human body are not human. Read that again, if you need to. It's a shocking statement, but it's entirely true. The vast majority of cells contained in the human body are bacteria cells -- about 100 trillion of them for a typical human being.

In other words, when you walk around, most of the cells you're carrying with you are not even you. The importance of this is in understanding that the human organism does not exist in isolation to the world around it. Regardless of what we believe, we are all closer to nature than we think. In fact, we are literally living with nature inside us, permeating our cells and accounting for more of us than us ourselves.

Epigenetic factors
There's also no mention of epigenetics in all this news about the human genome. As recently understood -- to the great surprise of the hard science community, no doubt -- epigenetic factors control the expression of genes, activating or deactivating them based on environmental factors such as nutrition or exposure to synthetic chemicals.

Epigenetic factors are inherited, too, and passed from one generation to the next, meaning that if one woman suffers from chronic nutritional deficiencies when she conceives a child, the detrimental side effects of that nutritional deficiency will be passed down through multiple generations (at least four generations, according to Pottenger, but perhaps as many as seven according to others).

So DNA is not the only archive of information that's passed from mother to child. Even if we understood everything about DNA, we would still lack the big picture unless we also understood epigenetic factors -- and most old-school researchers and Western scientists don't even believe in epigenetic factors, adhering to the outdated point of view that genes alone control everything, and that all disease is predetermined, with environmental factors having little or no effect.

The human genome reflects the patterns of nature
Most Western scientists currently believe the human genome is sort of like a biological computer program; a series of instructions that tells the cells how to construct a complete organism containing trillions of new cells. Of course, there's no real explanation as to how a mere 30,000 genes could oversee the construction, maintenance and operation of such a highly complex organism. As Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said, "It's astounding that we get by with so few protein-coding genes, but that seems to be sufficient because here we all are." It's hard to argue with logic like that.

Indeed, it does work. But not in the way Western scientists believe. My own personal theory of the human genome takes special note of the multiple copies of many genes that have now been observed across a wide spectrum of the human population. Some people carry one, two, three or even four copies of the same gene.

If you look around in nature, where else do you notice copies of the same information? In harmonics, of course. A complex sound such as a single note on a violin is not made up of a simple square wave tone, it's made up of highly complex harmonics which give the violin its own tone and timbre, a sort of auditory personality. On an oscilloscope, these often appear as copies of the same underlying waveforms.

They're also called "overtones," and they're present throughout the human experience. Simple saying the word, "we," for example, involves shaping the mouth and tongue into an arrangement that creates complex, high-frequency overtones. The "ee" sound is the highest multi-frequency overtone sound created in human speech, but every vowel sound has its own unique pattern of repeating information. From low to high, it's "uuu" "ooo" "aaah" "eh" "eee."

Physically, a human being is more like musical expression than a set of construction blueprints. The human body has near-perfect symmetry and economies of expression through fractal geometry that are quite evident in the structure of the circulatory system, for example, or the nervous system. Just look at a drawing of veins and arteries and you'll notice the fractal patterns of geometry -- the same patterns you'll see drawn in the underside of a leaf, by the way.

The same is also true with human hair and skin cells. Every police detective knows that the human fingerprint is made up of readily identifiable patterns that are connected through a sort of biological artistry. In any human fingerprint, you'll notice the loops, swishes and curves that give strong clues to the underlying fractal geometry. Fingerprints aren't built with cellular bricks, they're built with repeating patterns that give us strong clues about the true structure of our DNA.

(Fractal geometry is also the dominant form of physical structure in nature, by the way. In fact, it was the study of plant leaves and mollusk shells that led to the discovery of fractal geometry.)

Throughout the human body, from the lining of the cells of the stomach to the structure of the eye, you find patterns that go way beyond mere construction blueprints. The human body is a symphony, a grand musical masterpiece played out in billions of variations across the planet.

And the DNA, in my view, is a holographic reflection of the whole being. The repeating patterns of genes and the symmetry of the double helix are all expressions of music. The human genome is a symphony, and it is through this symphony that we play the music of life. Combined with environmental factors and energetic factors (such as parental love), the symphony of human DNA creates a physical being. But it doesn't stop there. It also helps create the framework for an emotional being, an energetic being and a spiritual being.

Some scientists see nothing but cold, hard construction blueprints in that DNA. Others see God in the symphony, or Mother Nature directing the orchestra. What I see is a miracle of life, created with such masterful poetry and music that it is something to behold, to honor and to be humbled by. It is the ultimate statement of our connection to nature, for everywhere you look in nature, you see the same patterns we express, carried out in a range of melodies through the plants, animals and even the waters and skies. Looking closely at ourselves, we cannot help but notice nature. If we are keen observers, that is.

Western scientists refuse to hear the music
For Western scientists to think they've figured out the Human Genome, and that they can now use it to design new synthetic drugs that hijack the biochemical orchestra of the human body, is the epitome of medical arrogance. They refuse to recognize the miracle of human life, believing instead in the superiority of Man over nature. They would destroy a thousand symphonies to sell another million dollars worth of pharmaceuticals. Every day, they pad their fragile egos with "heroic" surgical procedures and organ transplants that grind the orchestra to a halt.

They are the music stoppers, the nature deniers... the rationalists. They believe all things are compartmentalized and separated. There is no connection between living things, according to the rationalists, and living creatures are nothing more than players in some cruel game called survival of the fittest.

But I say we are all unique, creative expressions of the same universal tune. Even our very blueprint -- our DNA -- is a symphony of expression that will never be understood until researchers start to think holographically rather than sequentially. DNA is a wonderful mystery, as is any good symphony, or novel, or collection of poetry. And just as a novel is more than the sum of its words, a human being is more than the accounting of her DNA. Let me give you a simple example to make this all more apparent.

In the paragraph below, each word represents a gene. What is this paragraph trying to say?

a, a, a, above, air, all, almost, alone, and, and, and, anywhere, as, breadth, brought, by, cluster, color, combining, crate, crooked, dropped, evening, fine, first-water, follow, freedom, from, glossy, greater, hair, hazy, i, i, image, in, in, in, in, it, it, it, it, it, i've, i've, i've, jewel, later, little, luster, might, moon, moon, new, of, of, of, of, on, one, one, or, ornament, over, please, pulled, put, run, seen, shining, shining, slowly, some, sorts, start, the, the, the, the, the, the, tilted, tree-and-farmhouse, trees, tried, tried, try, walking, wallow, water, with, with, wonder, you, your.

Presented as such, it seems to be nonsense, right? This is the Western view of the human genome, where each "word" (or gene) stands on its own, existing in some isolated way for the purpose of governing the construction of some correlated physical structure. Western scientists even use the term, "words" to describe genes, and they describe the variation in the protein sequences as different "spellings" of those words. Yet they completely miss the grammar of those words: the music, the poetry, the linguistics.

So let's take those same words (genes) and rearrange them to create music. Or poetry, as it were, thanks to Robert Frost:

The Freedom of the Moon

I've tried the new moon tilted in the air
Above a hazy tree-and-farmhouse cluster
As you might try a jewel in your hair.
I've tried it fine with little breadth of luster,
Alone, or in one ornament combining
With one first-water start almost shining.

I put it shining anywhere I please.
By walking slowly on some evening later,
I've pulled it from a crate of crooked trees,
And brought it over glossy water, greater,
And dropped it in, and seen the image wallow,
The color run, all sorts of wonder follow.

Do you see the difference? They are the same words as the nonsense paragraph shown earlier, but now suddenly the words create something far more complex and intelligent than the sum of their parts. Through the arrangement of the words, or the symphony of words, Robert Frost takes us on a journey that touches on the human experience, our relationship with nature and the meaning of life itself. All this has been brought forth by a set of words that seemed meaningless when read in isolated, absent the context of their interrelationships (or holographic relationships).

DNA is poetry, you see. And as long as Western scientists continue to look at genes in isolation, they will only see a scramble of isolated words whose meaning remains forever elusive. But genuine, curious scientists who are true enough to their own hearts to take a leap of faith at believing in the symphony of nature will find something far different in human DNA. They will find poetry, symmetry, harmonics... and a song of life that, if truly understood, would humble even the most brilliant among us.

You see, this year's discovery of widespread variability in the genetic code -- and gene copies, and missing genes -- is not something to be viewed as a way to sell more drugs. That view is childish. It is insulting to nature herself. This discovery is far more profound. It gives us an important clue that can help humankind remember where it came from. It reminds us that we are part of nature, not its conquerors or masters. We are, in fact, an expression of the very phenomena we are attempting to understand, and if we read the poetry of DNA correctly, we will realize that life itself is not about the accumulation of wealth, or stuff, or power over others, but rather the discovery of self.

And "self" does not exist in isolation. We are, in every way imaginable, intertwined. We are all made of the same stuff, wrought from the same patterns of nature, and in fact, formulated from the same musical notes played out in five billion unique but compatible tunes. With this discovery, Western science has concluded we are all more different from each other than previously thought, but I believe it is evidence that we are all just unique verses of the same universal poem.

Posted by Raymond Powers at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I spend a lot of time these days, as you all probably do, talking to people like “Claire” and “Peter” in the Philippines, “Kevin” and “Ginger” in Puna, India and even occasionally, “Chad,” in Texas. If you need to service your laptop, use your frequent flier miles, book an airline ticket or obtain a new credit card, chances are your call is routed overseas to some 24/7 call center somewhere in the world where everyone pretends they speak the same English we do.

Since countries that trade and integrate their economies together usually don’t go to war with each other, one might say globalization helps preserve peace in the neighborhood. But large American firms don’t move jobs offshore for such altruistic reasons. They do it to lower costs, improve the bottom line and return greater equity to shareholders. As head of an Economic Development Association, I’m all for that, with one caveat they must never forget: Quality of Service.

Lost in translation from America to India to the Philippines and only God knows where else is the simple concept of providing quality of service to customers. When firms forget that only by delivering quality to clients do they sustain the bottom line, we are all the worse for it. Short term profits do not drive long term shareholder equity.

Here are a few examples which I sure many of you have experienced with the names changed to protect the guilty:

For a recent flight back east I went to the website of my air miles partner, “Disorganized Airlines,” and tried to book the same flight through Denver as VCEDA president, Bill Buratto. After repeated dead end loops and site crashes, I gave up and called the 800 number. There I was “processed” by an Automatic Robotic Voice that refused to book me on the same flight as Bill, insisting repeatedly that I transfer through Chicago. Only when I screamed “Help” at the top of my lungs for the fifth time, did the Robot switch me to “Kevin” in Puna India. Though “Kevin” didn’t know the difference between Denver and Chicago, his supervisor, “Ginger,” did. Time wasted to book a simple flight, two hours.

Frustrated by this total lack of serviceable service, I decided to switch credit cards and mileage partners only to run into “Claire” and “Peter” in Manila whose commanded of English went no further than their sales script. More time wasted, and without success.

Lastly I felt compelled to write the following letter to the founder of a well know computer company for reasons you will all understand.

Dear Mr. “Acme:”

Thank you.”
To Acme’s c