Too many things to talk about this week. That means brief and shallow comments about each one. First, the county supervisors talking about giving themselves a pay raise. This comes up every couple of years, giving a bunch of voters the chance to express their stinginess and giving the supervisors a chance to appear altruistic by rejecting a pay raise once again. If knowledgeable voters want to criticize the county budget, there’s plenty of vulnerability. The pay of elected officials is small change. It’s a good idea to pay attention if a county supervisor is getting rich, but he or she never is going to do it with the paycheck.

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There was a lot of ink in the GV Union recently about a little urban renewal plan in Grass Valley. The city wants to spruce up the east side of South Auburn Street in the downtown area by tearing down most of the existing buildings and forcing the property owners either to build new ones or sell to someone who will. This plan is motivated by the desire to improve the looks of the neighborhood surrounding the new Holiday Inn which the city already has approved for Bank Street where the old Gra-Neva appliance store, the Gold Bowl and some other buildings are being swept away.

This story meshes with something the US Supreme Court did last week to expand the concept of eminent domain. In the past, a city, county or state could seize your real estate, even your home, just by giving you the assessed value if your property happened to be the site of a proposed public works project. In other words, if the government decided to build a new freeway or a new jail where your house sits, you’d soon be moving and the price is not negotiable. Under last week’s split decision by the court, the city of New London, CT has been allowed to seize homes in the same way for private development. That’s right, if the government wants to let Wal-Mart build another store in your back yard, you don’t have a back yard anymore. The developer gets off cheap, and you get to pack up and move along.

That’s not to say Grass Valley would be better off keeping South Auburn Street just as it is, but if you owned an old dump next door to the new Holiday Inn, you used to be in for a nice payday. Now you could be in for the shaft. The government is, in effect, a cut rate real estate agent for developers.

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Those ungrateful people in Iraq continue to blow up American soldiers now a full year after we brought them the gift of democracy. Rummy says we should expect such insurgency to go on for at least five or six more years, but the Army has announced the long-term solution. You might call it the California plan. The Army plans to build new prison facilities in Iraq to accommodate about 16,000 new guests. We’re going to set these people free even if we have to lock up every last one of ‘em.

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I guess it’s time to talk a little about broadcasting. Even though various broadcasters who characterize themselves as non-commercial breathed a sigh of relief last week when the feds decided not to slash the public broadcasting budget for the time being, that particular budget ax still is poised over the necks of everyone who still thinks people should have access to the airwaves even when they have no product to sell.

The current climate for broadcasting is really a collection of different stories. PBS and NPR are under attack for being just thinly disguised commercial broadcasters, but they’re also taking heat from conservative politicians for broadcasting too much LIBERAL content. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting also gives money to independent broadcasters such as the one you’re hearing right now, but a conservative Republican political hack recently was appointed to head the CPB, so even while the money still flows, the threat of government interference in the content still is looming large. And then there’s Clearchannel broadcasting the radio equivalent of Wonder Bread all around the country with the FCC’s blessing.

Right here at home, the public access TV station says it can’t afford to produce any more new programming. In other words, it’s no longer providing public access. We’ve talked about all these stories before, and the collective impression is that Christian conservative types are in the driver’s seat and they’re determined to impose a social and political agenda on the airwaves. Consider the possibility, however, that instead of a social agenda, it’s really about that money we’re constantly reminded to follow. The real money in radio and television comes from corporate sponsors, and any programming which those sponsors don’t control is seen by advertisers as a threat to their income. Commercial TV with all its sexual innuendo and tabloid news programs is thriving, but broadcasters who call themselves non-commercial are expected to meet a litmus test for political balance and social responsibility as defined by those same corporations. Dude! Where are my airwaves?

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Obituaries include Chet Helms, a guy who virtually invented the modern rock concert in 1966 inside a former dance studio which he renamed The Avalon Ballroom. Helms had all the good ideas, but his onetime partner Bill Graham added the one idea Helms never had, making money on rock concerts. Helms died as broke as he was when he started. Even if he’d never done another thing in the music business, he secured his legacy by calling an old college friend in Texas and inviting her to San Francisco. She was Janis Joplin. He also owned the distinction of being arrested in Texas on November 22, 1963, as a suspect in the JFK assassination.

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Name, (isn’t necessarily suspected by KVMR, etc.) If you want to take issue with anything in this commentary, remember that I have a pit bull and I don’t know how to use it, otherwise . . . (Email)