Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Countdown To CAOmageddon: Flaw #34 - User Error

Sometimes things aren't what they seem to be, are they? That's certainly the case with many aspects of the CAOs, but we'll consider the CAO functions and values in just a moment.  Let's first look at a recent email turned up by a public records request (see image at bottom of this post). Apparently, Councilman Jamie Stephens is under the misapprehension that the Trojan Heron "doesn't accept comments contrary to their posts, but it is what it is."

Actually, it isn't what it is. Since the Trojan Heron began in February of this year, it has received over 45,000 hits, has 147 posts, and 410 comments. There are no restrictions on comments. Anyone can say anything. The comments are not moderated. We hope the Trojan Heron never has to moderate comments. In its entire yet brief existence, the Trojan Heron has deleted precisely one comment. Want to see it? Here it is.
レイバン サングラスと言えば、偏光レンズがいいとよく言われる。特にレイバン aviatorが良くて、形も綺麗だそうで、すごく気になる。このような数あるRay Ban サングラスだが、どのモデルがキミのイチオシ?ぜひ教えてください! 
which was left by someone named shi zan. So unless Jamie is selling Ray Ban aviator sunglasses, speaking (as well as being a) mandarin, and going by the alias of shi zan, I think the Trojan Heron is in the clear on this one. Honestly, if anyone has been unable to post a comment, the Trojan Heron apologizes, but it is not due to our editorial or comment moderation policies. It is more likely due to user error. All I can say is, try try again.

Speaking of user error and "try again," let's get back to the CAOs. I want to recap where we left off regarding functions and values and related items.

The County hasn't identified critical areas functions, hasn't identified values, hasn't surveyed the community about values, hasn't identified any specific ecological stressors, hasn't defined exposure routes or exposure scenarios, hasn't performed a risk assessment, hasn't developed a site-specific approach, and never had any upfront scoping about the gaps that needed to be plugged by a "review" of the current ordinance in the first place.

In place of all that, the County has swallowed hook, line, and sinker the eco-doomsday notion that we never have enough "protection" ... which somehow seems to be linked inevitably to never having enough baseless assumptions, never having enough grants, never having enough consultants, never having enough coordination, never having enough Department of Ecology, never having enough hypocrisy, never having enough tourists, never having enough property restrictions, and never ever ever running out of eco-pessmissm. 

As Peter Kareiva of the Nature Conservancy says, if Martin Luther King had been an environmentalist rather than a civil rights activist, his "I have a dream" speech would have been titled "I have a nightmare."

The proposed CAOs reflect the mental state of the people who developed them, not science.





2 comments:

  1. Jamie Stephens should comment, we all want to hear from him.
    Well actually the facts are that the San Juan Islander and the Journal of the San Juans actively censor comments. Have for years. If the Trojan Heron didn't exist it would have been created. This is an open forum. No wonder the control freaks are howling that it isn't. They can't control it. Such nonsense.

    It is a shame to see Jamie's true character emerge like this but, as he says: "It is what it is." Whatever that means. But I guess he knows. He is what he is.

    And by the way. Censored? It was hardly a few weeks ago that the angry activist husband of one the most out of control Planning Commissioners demanded that half the County Council seek to censor and muzzle the Trojan Heron because he were offended by the comments. That's because he can't take on the actual content, it is far too technically correct and logical for him to either understand or rebut. So, he takes on the comments and demand legal action.

    The Prosecuting Attorney, who was forced to burn public funds to actually respond to this literary lynch-mob and to half the County Council who frog-marched along did the only thing he could do: Strongly caution the County to be very careful of the First Amendment.

    This all goes to show, that once again, the CAO is not about the environment, it is about control and the authoritarian fuss budgets that are pushing on this thing cannot tolerate dissent or logical technical analysis for that matter, that obstructs their agenda.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Someone needs to get after Mr. Stephen's elementary school teachers. The basic tenant of free speech is any person can speak freely without someone like Mr. Stephens calling the law in to shut them up.

    So what's the benefit? Simple, you get all points of view without people having to be arrested or gun play.

    It is appalling how many members of the Council Council don't "get it."

    Further, the County Council's involvement in extremely questionable meetings, be they committee or "retreats." And those who have such poor moral grounding as to not understand what conflict of interest is all about. (Hello Lovel Pratt!) Never mind the law. If it has a glimmer of conflict, it IS a conflict.

    The moral compass continues to go askew with the PA. While excellent at mediation and correct levels of negotiated punishment for youth offenders, the PA comes up mentally blank in his support of the very people who pay his demanded wages. In fact, this man thinks it is perfectly fine to supply an assistant for endless hours to assist in the "legal" screwing of the very people who pay to keep the heat on in his office.

    As usual, Winter is coming. Maybe we should turn the heat off.

    ReplyDelete