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Bill’s Guests: Friday, January 17, 2020
6:35: Rick Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government chats with Bill. It’s the Weekly Swamp Update.
Today, as the Senate Impeachment Trial draws near, Rick will give you an idea of what to expect.
Unjust Flynn sentencing is the last straw
See more great content, all over at: DailyTorch.com
7:10: Greg Roberts, Mr. Outdoors joins the show to give a look at what you can do over this weekend in the outdoors. And, that’s not all, Greg will give you an idea of what to expect from the weather too. See more over at: RogueWeather.com
7:35: Dr. Wilfred Riley, social scientist and author of the book: Hate Crime Hoax chats with Bill.
Just days after ending cash bail, stories of suspects being set free and committing new crimes—including that of a woman accused of an anti-Semitic attack in NYC—are on the rise.
African American social scientist and celebrated author of Hate Crime Hoax, Dr. Wilfred Reilly Tweets the following about bailout reform:
Dr. Reilly will be releasing his latest book TABOO: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About (Regnery) on January 28, 2020.
TODAY CBS NEWS REPORTED THE FOLLOWING:
“D.C. fire department recruits might be making “white power” hand gesture in photo.”
Leave it to the mainstream media to insist that average Joe fire fighters are racist and that this the picture the article they are referring to is newsworthy.
African American social scientist Dr. Wilfred Reilly, and author of forthcoming TABOO: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About (Regnery; January 28, 2020; $28.99), fearlessly debunks the lie told by the left and msm: America has never been more racist and sexist as it is today.
Bill’s Guests: Thursday, January 16, 2020
7:10: Josephine County Lily Morgan talks with Bill this morning. Today, we’ll be discussing, with Commissioner Morgan, this idea of a big pay boost for county employees.
Board of Josephine County Commissioners approves policy change to help recruit, retain staff
JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. — To increase Josephine County’s ability to recruit and retain top talent, the Board of County Commissioners voted today to pick up the required 6% Public Employee Retirement System employee contribution to the Individual Account Program for non-union employees, effective immediately. This change was made in lieu of the traditional cost-of-living annual adjustment for those same positions.
Order No. 2020-002, In the Matter of Administrative Policies and Procedures for Josephine County for the Purpose of Conducting Business on a Daily Basis: Personnel Policy Manual Revision, passed 2-0 at the 9 a.m. Weekly Business Session. Commissioner Lily Morgan, a PERS participant, abstained.
“Josephine County is on the rise, and we need to be able to attract and keep talented staff members so that we can continue serving the needs of our citizens as best we can,” Dan DeYoung, Josephine County commissioner, said. “This policy change puts us on par with other Oregon counties, the majority of which also pick up the IAP contribution.”
The change will affect more than 90 current employees as well as several prominent positions the county has struggled to fill, particularly in the District Attorney’s Office.
“Several potential job applicants, especially in the DA’s Office, have told us specifically that they did not take a position with Josephine County because we didn’t pick up the 6% IAP contribution,” said JJ Scofield, county human resources director. “In most jurisdictions in Oregon, the employer covers that contribution.”
Of the 36 counties in Oregon, only five Eastern Oregon counties do not cover the 6% IAP contribution for non-union employees.
“Of paramount importance, all of the local governments around us pick it up, which had put us at a strategic disadvantage when it comes to recruitment,” Scofield said. “We need to be competitive in the marketplace to provide the best service to our citizens, and this policy change will go a long way in making sure that happens.”
The cost of the change will be paid by the relevant departments, as well as $50,000 from the general fund.
7:50: Chef Robert Irvine of Food Network’s “Restaurant Impossible” chats with Bill.
You take a failing restaurant, take two days and 10,000 dollars, and whip it back into shape? Sounds impossible, but Chef Robert Irvine is ready to take on that challenge every week on Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible. A new episode is tonight 7 o’clock on the Food Network. And we’ll talk to the Chef about the show, and the challenges in running a restaurant.
Check out more at: ChefIrvine.com
8:10: Paul Romero, Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate from Roseburg talks with Bill. Paul is running to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, and he’s here to make his pitch to you today.
Find out more over at: Romero4Oregon.com
8:45: Ron Cole with Southern Oregon Veteran’s Benefit joins Bill in studio this morning. Ron is here to talk with Bill about the delivery of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, and about a raffle that they’re holding with the prize being a pretty awesome, 1965 Ford Fairlane. They’re doing it to raise funds for veterans.
Bill’s Guests: Wednesday, January 15, 2020
6:35: Eric Peters, automotive journalist, Libertarian and all around nice guy joins Bill today for the Weekly Transportation News Segment. See more from Eric over at: EPAutos.com
This week, it seems that with all of the automation being installed in vehicles today, your car is getting harder to work on, forcing you to take it in for, waaaaay overpriced repairs at a dealership or automotive shop. The same is true for farmers, the people who feed America, and their tractors. Tractors are becoming more and more computerized. Some farmers are actually going back to buying old-school tractors that have NO computerized parts in them.
And that’s not all. What if your future car, could actually monitor your mood? What do you think of that?
7:10: Greg Reeser, owner of Diner 62 chats with Bill. So, what would happen if Talent’s “Zero Waste” team’s policies, that are being crafted in the name of “fighting climate change” do to restaurants if they gain traction?
7:35: State Representative Duane Stark calls the show. We’ll talk with Duane about the upcoming, short Legislative session, and what to expect.
8:10: Kevin Starrett with the Oregon Firearms Federation chats with Bill. We’ll talk with Kevin about the Gun Lock Down bill that’s being looked at, as well as other anti-gun rights legislation in the session.
8:45: Michael Kraan Chairperson of the Oregon Chapter of the Federation of College Republicans talks with Bill. Michael will give you an update on the AR-15 fundraising raffle that they’re holding.
Bill’s Guests: Tuesday, January 14, 2020
6:35: Dr. Samuel Mitcham, military historian and author of It Wasn’t About Slavery: Exposing The Great Lie of The Civil War chats with Bill.
Dr. Mitcham says that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery. If you think the Civil war was fought to end slavery, you’ve been duped. Bestselling military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. makes the case in his provocative new book, It Wasn’t About Slavery: Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War and his argument will change the way you think about Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the legacy of America’s momentous Civil War.
Grab your copy by clicking this link!
7:35: State Senator Herman Baertschiger of Grants Pass calls the show. We’ll go over the details of the latest carbon cap and trade, just released that The Green Mafia wants to force you to like and obey.
8:10 Stephen Willeford, the “Good Guy with A Gun” talks with Bill.
Stephen is the “Good Guy with a Gun” who drew the attention of, and shot the attacker at a Texas church in 2017 that left 26 dead and 20 more injured. Willeford’s actions led to the change in Texas law allowing the carrying of firearms into church. Arguably, this helped save lives in another recent shotgun attack at another Texas church, the one where Jack Wilson took a “head shot” to kill the assailant.
Bill’s Guests: Monday, January 13, 2020
6:50: Dr. Robert Marks, Director of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Discovery Institute chats with Bill. We’re here to talk with Dr. Marks about his new book:
In The Case for Killer Robots: Why America’s Military Needs to Continue Development of Lethal AI
A Moral Argument for Killer Robots: Why America’s Military Needs to Continue Development of Lethal AI
Doomsday headlines warn that the age of “killer robots” is upon us and that new military technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) will lead to the annihilation of the human race. In his new book, The Case for Killer Robots: Why America’s Military Needs to Continue Development of Lethal AI, artificial intelligence expert Robert J. Marks investigates the potential military use of lethal AI and examines the practical and ethical challenges.
In The Case for Killer Robots, these questions are answered:
- Were AI weapons used in the U.S. conflict with Iran?
- Is the use of autonomous AI weapons new?
- How could AI have been used by Iran to disrupt the U.S. operations against Iran?
- The UN Secretary General proposed a ban on autonomous AI weapons. Will this help?
- Is it easy to make killer robots?
- Will computers ever take over? Is Skynet from the “Terminator” movies possible with future AI?
- How do high tech weapons win, shorten and prevent war?
- What do we learn from history about the role of high technology like AI in warfare?
- What is the history of opposition to high tech weapons? What is the reasoning here and why is it wrong?
- What’s the biggest danger from AI weapons?
- What is the difference between autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons? Can we get by without using totally autonomous weapons?
“Marks makes a lucid and compelling case that we have a moral obligation to develop lethal AI,” said Jay Richards, philosopher and author, The Human Ad-vantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines. “He also reminds us that moral questions apply, not to the tools that we use to protect ourselves, but to how we use them when war becomes a necessity.”
Marks provocatively argues that the development of lethal AI is not only appropriate in today’s society; it is unavoidable if America wants to survive and thrive into the future.
“I am an outlier in the sense I believe that AI will never be creative nor have understanding,” said Marks. “Like fire and electricity, AI is neither good nor bad. Those writing AI code and using AI systems are solely responsible for the morality and the ethics of use.”
About the author:
Dr. Marks directs the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Discovery Institute, and he is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. Marks also heads up the Center’s daily news website, Mind Matters News and hosts the Mind Matters Podcast.
7:10 Greg Roberts, Mr. Outdoors himself, calls in to bring to you the Monday Outdoor Report. Check out more from Greg, over at: RogueWeather.com
7:35: Alex Poythress, Medford City Council Member from Ward 1 joins Bill in studio. We’ll be talking with Alex on numerous things the face the City of Medford, including a proposed, $60 million dollar aquatic center proposal.
8:10: Dr. Dennis Powers, retired Professor of Business Law, author and local historian chats with Bill, in studio. It’s this week’s editon of Visiting Past & Present.
Rogue Creamery
by Dennis Powers
Gaetano “Tom” Vella arrived in Sonoma, California, in the early 1920s, and worked various jobs with the Sonoma Mission Creamery; his brother, Joseph, held “considerable” stock in the creamery. In 1931, local dairymen called on Tom and asked if he would start his own cheese factory, if they guaranteed him all of the quality bulk milk needed. Tom agreed.
Once he started the Vella Cheese Company in Sonoma, Tom realized that another larger market existed further north. When he visited this area in the mid-1930s, the Rogue Valley was then quite different: It was a sea of small but diversified farms, pear orchards, and lumber mills, but in the grasp of the Great Depression. Despite this, he chose Central Point, halfway between San Francisco and Portland, for a new rural cheese factory and creamery.
With Kraft’s assistance, he helped local farmers acquire cows and in 1935 began using their milk to make cheddars, jack cheese, cottage cheese, and butter. He kept his Sonoma dairy business, although on a reduced scale. His son, Ignazio (“Ig”) Vella, was learning the trade, starting in Sonoma when he delivered dairy products in his dad’s Model-A truck.
Tom’s Rogue River Creamery grew slowly but surely until the U.S. entered World War II. With troops around the world needing food, his operations ramped up. For four consecutive years, it produced one million pounds of cheddar cheese shipped to troops in many countries. With the ending of the war, the civilian market accelerated and his creamery became the first major supplier of cottage cheese in Oregon.
Tom traveled in the 1950s to Roquefort, France, where he toured its famous blue cheese operations, from the farms and cheese factories to the curing limestone caves at Cambalou. He left with plans for a Roquefort-type cheese factory, and construction began in Central Point. Envisioning caves similar to Cambalou, he designed a building to duplicate its atmosphere: Two Quonset-shaped, half-circled rooms of cement were poured, one over the other, with space in between for insulation. The result was a true cave-like atmosphere. The Rogue Creamery began its production as the first blue cheese produced in caves west of the Missouri River. Its dairies along the Rogue River produced the whole milk used for their gourmet blue cheeses.
During this time, son Ig graduated magna cum laude from Santa Clara University and eventually headed the operations of the Vella Cheese Company in Sonoma. When Tom died in 1998 at age 100, the businesses were inherited by Tom’s wife, Zolita, and his four children: Ignazio, Carmela, Moris, and Zolita. Ig soon took over the operations of the Rogue Creamery. The CEO of both operations, Ig believed strongly in artisan dairy products. As the American consumer grew tired of the blander, mass-produced cheeses, they returned to his handmade specialty “artisan” cheeses. For 30 years, Ig trained cheesemakers and instituted a union-recognized apprentice cheesemaker program.
For three years after his dad’s death, Ig split his time between Sonoma and Central Point. Sales were suffering in the Rogue Creamery after his father died, however, as he shuttled back and forth. He also had strong Sonoma ties: Ig was a Sonoma County supervisor for three consecutive term (four years each), manager of the Sonoma County Fair, and even President of the Association of Bay Area Governments.
In 2002, Cary Bryant and David Gremmels acquired Rogue River Valley Creamery from Ig under the condition that he stay on as the master cheesemaker and teach them all that he knew. Buying the business on a handshake on the porch at the facilities, Ig traveled from Sonoma to Central Point one week each month for a time, happy to hand over his family’s local legacy to the two men. The name was changed to its present one of the Rogue Creamery.
It won the award for the World’s Best Blue Cheese at the 2003 World Cheese Awards in London, a first for a U.S. creamery. Their long award list includes four trophies and thirty medals and awards, including the coveted Best New Product Award as the world’s first smokey-blue at the national trade show in 2005 and Best in Show at the 2009 American Cheese Society show, among others.
The third and fourth generations of Tom Vella manage the Vella Cheese operations in Sonoma; it produces jack and monterey jack, habañero dry jack, cheddar cheeses, and even salami. The separate Rogue Creamery’s specialties are blue cheeses, cheddars (different varieties), and TouVelle in numerous ways, both companies being in basically different markets.
A large French cheese-making company, Savencia SA, purchased Rogue Creamery in 2018, allowing David Gremmels to work more in the handcrafting of the cheeses (Cary Bryant had earlier sold his interest.) Savencia has operations in 29 countries, employing more than 19,000 people, and is a $5.7 billion enterprise.
Its Rogue River Blue was declared the world’s best cheese at the World Cheese Awards in Italy in October 2019. The organic blue cheese beat out a record 3,803 other cheeses in the competition. Made with cow’s milk from its organic dairy, each cheese wheel has been cave-aged for 9 to 11 months and hand-wrapped in organic Syrah grape leaves that have soaked in pear liqueur. Incredible (and a local entity)!
Sources: Sanne Specht, “Cheesemaker Vella dies at 83,” Mail Tribune, June 14, 2011, at Rogue Creamery Founders; “Rogue Creamery: An Historical Overview,” at Rogue Creamery History; “Vella Cheese Company: The History of Vella Cheese,” at Vella Cheese Company; Greg Stiles, “Rogue Creamery has new owner,” Mail Tribune, May 22, 2018, at Company’s Sale; Ryan Pheil, “Singing the Rogue River blues at the World Cheese Awards,” Mail Tribune, October 20, 2019, at Best in the World Award.
Bill’s Guests: Friday, January 10, 2020
6:35: Rick Manning, President of Americans for Limited Government chats with Bill. It’s the Weekly Swamp Update from Mordor on The Potomac.
See more from Rick, all over at: DailyTorch.com
7:10: Greg Roberts, Mr. Outdoors becomes Mr. Snow today. Greg is here to bring to you the Friday Outdoor Report. You can check out more from Greg over at his website: RogueWeather.com
8:10: State Senator Dennis Linthicum talks with Bill today.
Today we talk with Dennis about his latest constituent newsletter, that decries the upcoming, short legislative session, where there is fear that state Democrats will try to ram through Cap and Trade legislation.
Short Session Swindle
A recent Wall Street Journal book-review, When the Earth Had Two Moons, by Erik Asphaug, starts with,
“If you visited the surface of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, you wouldn’t recognize it. The newly formed planet was still cooling from its recent coagulation. There was a hot rocky surface (probably; we don’t know for sure), volcanoes (again, probably) and a steamy atmosphere (maybe). It seems unlikely that even the smallest thing resembling life was yet present, though, really, we don’t know. … We can be forgiven for not knowing what the surface of the Earth was like before this moment, as nothing survived that day intact.”
The reviewer’s thoughts are remarkable because, 1) there is a frank admission of uncertainty and 2) there is a profound recognition that our planet is always changing.
This WSJ book-review affirms my argument that the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) crowd and the tax and spend proposals we see cascading through various legislatures have put too much weight into stasis. The environmental balance that we witness today will not be the balance of tomorrow. The T. Rex and Mastodon are proof of that. It is one thing to recognize that the barred owl is a more successful survivor than the spotted owl but does this warrant shot-gunning the former to preserve the latter? This policy is not rational or scientific, it is a moral argument that demands an appropriate moral response.
Scientists have extensive knowledge of the Earth’s most recent 4,000-year period of glacial expansion and retreat. Historical references to the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warming Period, are quite robust. Documentation particularly notes the improvement in mortality rates, farming, horticulture, livestock management, population growth and cultural achievements across most known cultures during the warmer periods of human history.
If this is fact, then why the political clamor? Why does the public at large expect the state, or federal government, to control or dictate the best type of energy that should be available? All our choices – nuclear, ethanol, diesel, low-octane rotaries, natural gas, fuel oil, solar, wind – all have drawbacks and benefits. Why not let the market decide?
Government mandates are blunt force instruments that shrewdly coerce compliance through costly fines, penalties and taxes without having the bandwidth to assess alternative technologies and innovative approaches that might solve our problems. Unlike the private sector, government is not an ingenious inventor. Economic data suggests that government is too costly, too inefficient and bureaucratic while being prone to corruption, misdirection and fraud.
The results seen on the street rarely match the political hype. Missed targets and cost overruns abound while with every election cycle the public gets promised newer, bigger, grander and longer-term, yet, more costly and unsustainable programs.
I would prefer an approach which more closely resembles the paradox witnessed throughout world history. A situation where free people enjoy the rewards of their hard work and where disseminated freedom leads to increased human well-being, societal growth and creative problem solving. Free people are creative people.
So, why the relentless drive to force Oregonians into a new proposal for a look-alike HB2020 Cap and Trade Carbon Management scheme? I am convinced it is nothing more than scare-mongering in order to tax Oregonians. It is nothing more than a cleverly worded grab and run, tax and spend, swindle.
The proposed legislation will grow the state, empower the political elites, raise taxes and redistribute the wealth of the most productive without even slightly impacting worldwide carbon emissions.
If you think I’m out on limb, look at this map with regard to existing, planned and currently under construction, coal-fired electrical production facilities and ask yourself, “Given the world’s population demographics, will taxing Oregon families and businesses impact the behavior of the heaviest carbon polluters?” Can Oregon’s population make up for emissions from expansive fires in California, Russia, or Australia, or, volcanic activity through-out the world?
Clearly, no.
The Democrat super majority should have asked this same question when they outlawed plastic straws and single-use plastic bags, “will it make a difference or is it just a costly hassle?”
People and their personal choices can make big differences. Personal responsibility and stewardship are the appropriate tools for each of us to use in our personal and public lives. I’m not making the claim that everything is peachy, and people aren’t wasteful or thoughtless when it comes to environmental concerns. Instead, I’m making the claim that government mandates never represent a balanced, efficient or rational choice due to the conflicting interests that guide public policy.
For example, I can remember when paper bags were outlawed to “save the trees.” The legislated solution was a floppy, thin, shapeless, “single-use” bag that never had any groceries in it by the time you got home because they were strewn about the car.
These constantly changing perspectives on right, wrong and which bag is the correct bag, shows that government policy can be irrational. Politicians make decisions based on limited knowledge with biased information. Paper bags were banned because legislators believed the environmentalist rhetoric about diminishing forests. Now there is a new emergency because people have been so diligent in following the law and not using paper.
Yet, the real solution would have been to allow free choice in the marketplace. Some folks would have used paper, others plastic, some would tend toward variations on recycled products while clever stewards would have developed the inexpensive reusable bag two decades sooner. Was it helpful to force people to use nothing but plastic only to berate them and force a nickel charge for buying the next version of the correct bag?
Yet, reality does not appear to inform the super majority. Free market solutions are lost to AGW fanaticism, as though state power is the only goal. Thus, we see the ‘politicizing’ all areas of our lives and society. Success hinges on being able to implement all-encompassing and ever-more complex social experiments where results become difficult to recognize and evaluate.
Additionally, the true societal costs are never properly accounted for as profound economic and community distortions, dislocations, and malinvestments pile onto the balance sheets of families and businesses.
The Climate Policy office holders will not be the people’s representatives as they will be appointed by the Governor and represent the statists’ interests, instead. They will have near universal control over Oregon businesses through rulemaking, unlimited taxing authority, penalty assessments, discretionary enforcement and other extensive economic burdens that will never make headlines. Oregonians know better, as we’ve seen unfettered giveaways and compliance incentives before, like the $1.2 billion Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) scandal.
The super majority continually reaches for near-tyrannical mandates that are wasteful and extremely expensive to Oregonians without ever accomplishing any measurable goals. Therefore, I will do everything in my power to stop any HB2020 look-alike which will subvert our individual liberty and bankrupt businesses, whether small or large, in the metro area, or in the rural heartland of Oregon.
Remember, if we don’t stand for rural Oregon values and common-sense, no one will!
8:45: Tom Lowell with JC Concerts joins Bill in studio today.
Sunday at North Medford High School it’s another incredible concert with pianist Alexander Tutonov.
Get tickets and showtimes, all over at: JCConcerts.org
Bill’s Guests: Thursday, January 9, 2020
6:10: Mr. X, calls in to give you his take on the plastic bag ban, and a pretty unbelievable observation he made when shopping for coffee creamer this morning.
6:35: Tim Winter, President of the Parents Television Council chats with Bill this morning. Well it appears that Hollywood is unleashing the trebuchet in their latest salvo in the culture war.
Hollywood is directly marketing its most explicit content to kids, PTC president warns
Last year, we’ve witnessed a near-total transformation of the TV industry as we knew it. Digital technology has dramatically changed how families access entertainment. Streaming services have upended the TV industry, and they provide immediate access to the most-vile content that Hollywood markets to younger viewers. PTC President Tim Winter is sounding the alarm, indicating that Hollywood is directly marketing its most explicit content to children.
Find out more, all over at: ParentsTV.org
7:10: Royal DeLand, and Laura Guymon, two concerned Grants Pass residents join Bill in studio this morning. Royal and Laura are residents that live in the same neighborhood, who are vehemently opposed to Foundry Village, a project that aims to bring a tiny house village, similar to Medford’s Hope Village to Grants Pass.
8:10: Will Reishman joins Bill in studio. Will and Bill will chill and spill on the foreign policy issues in the aftermath of the Iran ordeal.
Bill’s Guests: Wednesday, January 8, 2020
6:35: Eric Peters, automotive journalist over at EPAutos.com chats with Bill. It’s the Weekly Transportation News Segment.
Today, once again, we talk Tesla. And it seems that the car company has been declared the most valuable car company in the world EVER! If that’s true, then why is the federal government writing hot taxpayer checks for subsidizing the purchase of Tesla?
Oh wait, the President stopped that:
Check out more over at: EPAutos.com
8:35: Randall Lee from Advanced Air drops by the studio to tell you all about the new deals they can offer you.
PHONE: 541-772 6866
Bill’s Guests: Tuesday, January 7, 2020
6:20: Dr. Roger D. Klein Ph D. JD, with the Regulatory Transparency Project’s FDA and Health Working Group chats with Bill. Roger writes quite a bit on the “vaping scare,” that’s going on lately, and he’ll talk with us today about it.
The FDA announced that they will ban the sale and distribution of fruit and mint flavored cartridges for e-cigarettes as part of an effort to curb youth vaping. However, they will still allow flavors for use in vaping “mods” sold in vape shops.
Roger D. Klein, MD, JD (@RogerDKlein), is an expert with the Regulatory Transparency Project’s FDA and Health Working Group and has now written extensively on vaping. He is the former Medical Director of Molecular Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic, a former adviser to the FDA, CDC, CMS and HHS. He is available to discuss with you the intricacies of this “flavor ban” and its likely impact on vapers and smokers.
You can read more about his take on vaping regulation in his recent Washington Times op-ed explores this complex issue.
6:40: Jon Wiederhorn, author of the book: Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, chats with Bill for a little change in the show.
John has written a new book:
From the author of the celebrated classic Louder Than Hell comes an oral history of the badass Heavy Metal lifestyle―the debauchery, demolition, and headbanging dedication―featuring metalhead musicians from Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot to Disturbed, Megadeth, Throwdown and more.
In his song “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll” Ozzy Osbourne sings, “Rock and roll is my religion and my law.” This is the mantra of the metal legends who populate Raising Hell―artists from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slipknot, Slayer, and Lamb of God to Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Disturbed, Megadeth, and many more! It’s also the guiding principle for underground voices like Misery Index, Gorgoroth, Municipal Waste, and Throwdown.
Through the decades, the metal scene has been populated by colorful individuals who have thwarted convention and lived by their own rules. For many, vice has been virtue, and the opportunity to record albums and tour has been an invitation to push boundaries and blow the lid off a Pandora’s box of riotous experiences: thievery, vandalism, hedonism, the occult, stage mishaps, mosh pit atrocities, and general insanity.
To the figures in this book, metal is a means of banding together to stick a big middle finger to a society that had already decided they didn’t belong. Whether they were oddballs who didn’t fit in or angry kids from troubled backgrounds, metal gave them a sense of identity.
Drawing from 150-plus first-hand interviews with vocalists, guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, and drummers, music journalist Jon Wiederhorn offers this collection of wild shenanigans from metal’s heaviest and most iconic acts―the parties, the tours, the mosh pits, the rage, the joy, the sex, the drugs . . . the heavy metal life!
Horns up!
ABOUT JON WIEDERHORN
Jon Wiederhorn is the author of Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal (with Katherine Turman) and the co-author of My Riot: Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts & Glory (with Roger Miret), Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen (with Al Jourgensen) and I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax (with Scott Ian). He has written for Rolling Stone, SPIN, MTV, Guitar World, and Revolver, among others. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
7:35: State Senator Herman Baertschiger calls in for the weekly update from the State Legislature.
8:35: Michelle Blinker, candidate for State House District #3 talks with Bill. We’ll talk about the write-in campaign she’s conducting.
Southern Oregon Legislative Candidate Launches Unique Write-In Campaign
Cave Junction—January 6, 2020 —“I am prepared to step into the political arena and do whatever it takes to win this primary as a write-in candidate because I care deeply about the people of Josephine county,” said Michelle Binker (R-Cave Junction).
Binker announced her candidacy in November for District 3 which includes Grants Pass, Cave Junction, Merlin, Williams, Wilderville, and the “heart” of rural Josephine county.
State law (ORS 249.046) requires candidates to be a member of a major political party for six months prior to the deadline for filing to run for office. That allows candidates to have their names on the May Primary Election ballot. The cut-off to make the six-month deadline would have been September 12th.
“When I changed my registration to Republican last fall, I did so because it was the right thing for me and my conservative values. Although I hadn’t originally intended to pursue the House District 3 seat, I was encouraged by numerous community leaders to become their candidate,” noted Binker.
However, Binker, a former Libertarian, changed party affiliation party on September 25, 2019 and missed the deadline by 13 days. In order to win the Republican party’s nomination in May 2020, she is asking supporters to write her name on the ballot.
Binker has been working hard building her campaign and generating support in the community. “Michelle has spent six-plus years of her life and career serving the constituents of House District 3 as Chief of Staff to two legislators,” said former republican State Representative Wally Hicks. “She isn’t shy about holding bureaucrats accountable to the people.” Hicks served two terms in the house as the representative for District 3. Hicks is now the Josephine County Legal Counsel. Representative Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass) was elected to District 3 after Hicks and served as the House Republican Leader last legislative session. Wilson is not running for another term.
“For over 20 years, Michelle Binker has had her pulse on the needs of Josephine County,” said Josephine County Commissioner Lily Morgan. “She knows how to navigate the state system but has not lost the rural connections of her home. Michelle Binker is the best candidate for House District #3.”
Morgan went on to explain, “Michelle has served our community well volunteering with private school boards, service organizations, and local advisory committees. She has been an essential partner working with state agencies addressing local needs related to land use, natural resources, and other regulatory issues.”
Binker has been working as Chief of Staff for Representative Carl Wilson the past five years and prior to Wilson, she served in the same position for former representative Hicks.
“Working alongside true statesmen like Reps Wilson and Hicks taught me many valuable lessons about leadership,” said Binker.
“One of them is that sometimes you need to stand up for what you believe in; I believe in this district and I believe this race is winnable.”
Binker continued, “In the words of a great Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt, nearly 110 years ago, it’s important to dare greatly”:
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood… who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
Citizenship in a Republic Speech, Paris, April 23, 1910.
Check out more about Michelle and her campaign over at her website: MichelleBlinker.com
Bill’s Guests: Monday, January 6, 2020
6:35: Dr. Devin Fergus, Distinguished Professor of History, Black Studies and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri chats with Bill this morning. Dr. Fergus has penned a new book:
Dr. Fergus writes in his new book that collectively middle-class consumers in the U.S. pay roughly $1.46 trillion each year in fees – subprime mortgages, payday lending student loans, auto insurance, etc. That sum is greater than the revenue budget of the United Kingdom.
LAND OF THE FEE: Hidden Costs and The Decline of The American Middle Class, traces the system of fees in American consumer financial institutions from their origins in the late 1970s to present day. Through extensive research and conversations with financial regulators over the last 15 years, Fergus identifies mismanagement by many consumer financial institutions and a lack of regulatory leadership to curb predation which has resulted in financial fees seriously impacting equality in America.
Dr. Fergus is the Arvarh E. Strickland Distinguished Professor of History, Black Studies, and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. He is co-editor of the Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism, a leading book series by Columbia University Press, and the first historian named to the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative.
7:10: Greg Roberts, Mr. Outdoors himself from RogueWeather.com, calls in to bring to you, the Monday Outdoor Report.
7:35: “Mr. X” community activist, research Jedi, expert on Green Mafia shenanigans and all around nice guy, joins Bill in studio after a long time away.
Today, we discuss the attack on fire and smoke policy, and the need to get involved in the public comment process regarding numerous issues…the jail, the proposed public aquatic center, and the response to Governor Brown’s Wildfire Council.
See more from Mr. X’s vast reams of paper, all over at his website: MrXFiles.com
8:10: Dr. Dennis Powers, retired Professor of Business Law, author and local historian joins Bill in studio for the latest edition of “Visiting Past & Present.”
The Oregon Community Foundation
by Dennis Powers
The Oregon Community Foundation (“OCF”) dates back to when logging and wood products were the backbone of Oregon’s economy. Bill Swindells Sr. earned a civil engineering degree from Lehigh in 1926, married his sweetheart Irene Gerlinger, and later worked with her father’s lumber company (formed in 1906), then bought into the ownership of the company, Willamette Valley Lumber Co. When George Gerlinger died in 1948, Swindells became the president of the family’s company interests, consisting of extensive timberlands and different wood-product mills.
Bill built these operations up as its CEO and leader from 1948-1976 into a large, integrated forest products company with 51 plants in 10 states, manufacturing lumber, plywood, particleboard, pulp, corrugated containers, paper bags and business forms, employing 7,300 workers while earning $42 million on sales of some $550 million in his last year.
His son, Bill Swindells Jr., took over as its CEO and further increased the operations. In 2001, Weyerhaeuser initiated a hostile buyout attempt, but was forced to increase its offers. In January 2002, Willamette Industries agreed to be bought by Weyerhaeuser for $55.50 per share, or a total cash equity value of $6.08 billion. Willamette then was the seventh largest forest products company in the world with over 90 facilities across the United States; foreign operations in Mexico, Ireland, and France; and the company had $4.6 billion in annual revenues.
With a grant of an initial $63,000 in 1974, Bill Swindells Sr. formed the Oregon Community Foundation, which was headquartered in Portland. At the same time, he asked friends from around the state to join him with donations and work as volunteers. Community leader Otto Frohnmayer of Medford was an early board member. From its early days and initial gift, OCF grew in 45 years to more than $2 billion under management through 2,800 charitable funds.
The Swindells were important forces in the development of OCF, both serving long terms on its board, and OCF was the recipient of $75 million endowment from the Ann & Bill Swindells (the son) Charitable Trust, bequeathed as part of his estate. Other Swindells family members are involved with the OCF as donors, advisors and volunteers.
In a community foundation, donor funds are pooled under shared management to maximize benefits and growth. Unless requested to be used for a specific purpose, the OCF Board–a diverse group of 14 volunteers–govern distributions. Through these funds, OCF in 2018 awarded more than $109 million in grants and scholarships. OCF is the 9th largest community foundation in the U.S., but our population is only the 27th largest. OCF’s offices are located in Portland, Bend, Eugene, Medford and Salem.
Although this varies from year to year, OCF grants and scholarships in Southern Oregon totaled $11.1 million of the $109 million awarded statewide (2018). The size of this region’s grants makes OCF one of the largest foundations in size for our region. The current chair of OCF’s statewide board currently is Sue Naumes of Medford.
The Reed and Carolee Walker Fund (which supports children in poverty in Jackson County) is OCF’s third largest discretionary fund statewide and the largest fund in Southern Oregon. When the Walker fund was created in 2003, it was the largest single gift OCF had ever received (this has since been eclipsed) and was the largest single gift to charity in Oregon. The fund started with $29 million, has now awarded more than $29.4 million in grants, and the corpus has grown to $45 million.
The minimum individual grant recommended is $500 ($1,000 or more is strongly preferred). The minimum donation to set up a donor advised fund is $5,000, and $25,000 is needed to start awarding grants. One can make a donation to a fund at any time–and to any qualified nonprofit within the U.S. Over the lifetime of the fund, at least 50 percent of ones giving should go to Oregon nonprofits. International grants can be made when the organization has nonprofit status in this country.
This is a standout charitable organization—for donors and potential recipients alike—with a strong presence here.
Sources: The Oregon Community Foundation at OCF; Wikipedia: Willamette Industries at Willamette_Industries; World Forestry Center: William Swindells Sr., 1905-1985 at Bill Swindells Sr.; University of Oregon: “UO mourns following the passing of William Swindells, Jr.” at Bill Swindells Jr.; Email from Amy Cuddy, OCF Regional Director, Southern Oregon, to author, December 10, 2019.