Two Days in Anaheim

Last week, I went to Anaheim, to learn how to use an air quality dispersion modeling software package produced by Lakes Environmental. The class was taught by Dr. The and Russell Lee. Lee has written much of the ISCST3 and AERMOD source code, and it was nice to see him again (last I saw him was January 1998, at the AMS Phoenix convention).

The class was held in a glass box office building called New Horizons that appears dedicated solely to providing short classes for business applications computer instruction. I thought it strange that the class was not held at a college or university, since these institutions have been very pro-active in trying to attract exactly this kind of high-profit business-oriented business. I guess the computing business evolved too rapidly for sclerotic universities to keep up. Or maybe there are other reasons. In any event, I thought New Horizons had excellent groundskeeping.

I wanted to take a bit of time to look up Reva Renee Renz when I was in Anaheim. Renz was one of the gubernatorial candidates who ran in the 2003 California Recall election, and she runs a bar called Deva's in Tustin. When I flew in on Wednesday evening, May 12th, to John Wayne Airport, I passed by the bar just to establish where the place was. We had arranged to meet at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday.

On Thursday night, I got to Deva's early, about 8:30 p.m., or maybe even earlier. The bar was small, but busy: I inadvertently walked in front of a dartboard when I entered through the door, which could have been a real problem had the dart patrons been less careful. I had a beer, but I wandered off to do some exploring and perhaps some shopping. I thought it was after 9:00 p.m., but since I didn't have a watch with me, I was likely wrong. Apparently Renz arrived at the bar minutes after I left.

Instead of staying at Deva's, I wandered a few doors down into Elizabeth Howard's Curtain Call Dinner Theater. I was very curious about this new place I had never heard of before. Even though their box office had just closed, I more or less pushed my way in (I learned to be pushier in general during the recall campaign), had a few strawberry daiquiris, and saw Acts 2 & 3 of "The Sound of Music." The half-full Thursday-night dinner theater was about the size of Sacramento's 24th Street Theater. It was all very congenial, and right up my alley, given my association with DMTC. Even though I'd never wandered around Tustin before, I had somehow quickly located my proper niche.

I had wondered whether LA-area semi-professional theater might be of pretty-high quality, given the surfeit of high-quality talent in the area. Captain von Trapp Kurt Howard) looked like (Sacramento-area actors) John Coin but sounded like Roger McDonald. Elsa Schraeder (Mary Murphy Nelson) was very professional. Both were excellent. Maria (Stephanie Baldwin), Max Detweiler (Mark Rydzynski) and the Mother Superior (Karen Joy Smith) were fine as well. The woman who played Liesl (Jill Morrison) was a phenomenal dancer and singer, and therefore a good choice, but noticeably older than 16. When she tells Maria "when I said I no longer needed a governess, I was wrong," I thought to myself, 'no, you're exactly right!' A minor quibble: Brigitta (Madison Mitchell) had just a bit of a California accent that clashed with the Austrian theme. Overall, an excellent show that succeeded on many levels!

After the show, I went back to Deva's around 11 p.m. and learned that Renz had indeed come and waited. How embarrassing! I left Anaheim on Friday evening, but I wasn't able to get back to Deva's: class interfered.

Here are several photos from the trip:


The Spectrum Health and Fitness Club, near where I stayed at the Marriott Townehouse in Anaheim. I just liked the look: not at all like gym chic, and more like a vision of Timeless LA.


The Metroliner, flying like a proverbial bat out of hell.


An excellent-looking tree at New Horizons.

The Iranians Will Win

Devastating critique of the neoconservative blunder in Iraq.

Kenneth Feinberg's Speech

Feinberg's wonderful speech can be accessed at this page.

Conservatives and their Problem with Treason

Morton Kondracke tries to stifle Democrats from comparing Iraq to Vietnam by saying it demoralizes the troops. Kondracke anticipates criticism by claiming he's not questioning Democratic loyalty, just timing, discretion, and judgment. To Kondracke, criticism of U.S. policy and actions gives succor to the enemy, at least as long as troops are in combat.

Other conservatives, I'm sure, would not be as delicate with Democratic sensibilities. Kondracke leaves to others the obvious inference that Democrats are treasonous. Since combat hasn't ended, criticism can't possibly start. Endless combat therefore means endless suspension of debate. Mission Accomplished, indeed!

I don't buy Kondracke's Nixonian (Ciceronian actually) evasions. I, for one, will not stop criticizing U.S. policy or actions, whether troops are in combat or not. The troops themselves can't fulfill that civic duty as long as they are in uniform: it's up to people like me.

John McCain does make some points that Iraq is not like Vietnam, in the sense that there aren't off-limit sanctuaries and there isn't a sponsoring superpower. On the other hand, there may be no need for a distant superpower if a neighboring regional power (e.g., Iran) is available, and there are plenty of human shields around for a variety of ad hoc off-limits sanctuaries in Iraqi cities.

As far as I care, Kondracke can take his jackboots and play Fuhrer in Nasiriya. I will state my opinions as I please.

Various Items

The universe may be shaped as a trumpet
The echoes in George Bush's head
Condoleeza Rice, and the Perfect as the enemy of the Good

Runaway Stage and Joseph

With the DMTC crew, I saw Runaway Stage Production's version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Friday night. Fine show. Nice acting, singing, lights, etc. There were lots of parallels with DMTC's version that we did in 2002. I mentioned that to Steve Isaacson, who pointed out that all local versions of Joseph since the 1980's relied heavily on Bob Baxter direction and Ron Cisneros choreography, in spirit if not necessarily in fact, and that accounts for the parallels.

Easter

Met Sandra and Juan for the first time on Easter. Arrival was inauspicious, though. When we arrived, there was a blonde teenage girl in a tube top writhing on the lawn in pain and tears and shouting obscenities at the top of her lungs. Sandra leaned over her and cooed "Come on dear, let me help you. I am not your enemy." Someone else might be her enemy, though (apparently the teenagers were living in a squalid parallel universe quite different from the adults). Nevertheless, it was an excellent time, with endless foosball and discussions about growing up superstitious in Cuba.

Loss at Thunder Valley: ~$1550.00

The Rich Get Richer

Or at least luckier!

Magical CD

I had a dream last night that I had a magical CD that would burn its way through a laptop computer to pick the information contained within it (hence another meaning for the term CD-burning), and that I was going to use the CD in John Kerry's laptop computer from 1971 to find out his REAL position on the War on Terror. Sounds like a plan!

Bravery in the Mexican Outback

Still, this story makes me wonder if this is where we're heading, with rising health insurance premiums....

Condoleeza Rice's Testimony

I saw a portion of her testimony last night on CSPAN. What struck me most, beyond her general passivity, was the eerie lack of response by the Bush Administration to Al Qaeda's bombing of the USS Cole. The bombing occurred shortly before the Clinton Administration left power, and the question of retaliation was left for the Bush Administration, which apparently felt that another rather ineffective response (for example, a cruise-missile standoff attack) would simply gratify and reward the terrorists. Still, doesn't the complete absence of a response gratify and reward the terrorists even more?

It was almost as if the Bushies saw the Cole attack as an attack on Bill Clinton, and not the USA (even though the Cole was a US warship and the attack certainly qualified as an act of war), and therefore didn't merit a response. September 11th required a response only because it might be seen as an attack on Bush (the USA be damned). It's that weird hyperloyal autocratic personality cult Bush has developed that seemed to stand in the way.

Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master

This morning, I turned on CSPAN-2, looking for Condoleeza Rice's Sept. 11th commission testimony. I missed that spectacle, but instead found a much more interesting talk by Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the September 11th Fund, which Congress established to compensate victims of September 11th. Feinberg is an immensely engaging person, and he talked at length about the novelty of his position.

Feinberg was solely responsible for calculating the economic value of people's prospective lives and compensating the survivors, but only after accounting for insurance proceeds (a novel mix of tort law and social welfare safety net concepts), and together with his staff, devising his own administrative regulations. The position was fraught with potential disasters, but he was aided by the almost complete absence of fraudulent claims (!!!!) and widespread public and Congressional support.

Feinberg concluded by dwelling on two points:

How is it possible to compensate certain people more than others for premature deaths? It sounds terribly unjust, yet juries do exactly the same thing every day, and;

How is it just to compensate Sept. 11th victims, but then not compensate Daniel Pearl's widow, or Oklahoma City survivors, or anyone else who doesn't qualify for this particular fund?

Feinberg's talk was truly wonderful, a real gem of a speech, which touched on immutable principles of justice as applied to a single horrible disaster. I remember when I first heard of the September 11th Fund, I thought it was a disaster on wheels, a big rolling advertisement for fraud. Thanks in large measure to Feinberg's solid character, though, the Fund appears to be a success. May we never have need for such a fund in the future, but if we do, let us pray we have more such people to administer it.

Schadenfreude

As horrible as it is, I can't help but feel a bit of schadenfreude (pleasure at the suffering of others) for all the recent U.S. difficulties in Iraq. Even though I supported the intervention at the time, it was always with considerable reservations. We were opening the world's biggest can of worms, and only an urgent reason (unknown and unshared positive intelligence regarding WMD) would suffice for undertaking that dangerous endeavor. When WMD weren't found - poof! - there went the urgent reason! It's a horrible mess, and getting worse. Andrew Sullivan clearly senses that the whole project could unravel, and his apprehension is almost amusing.

"What we do know is that failure in Iraq is unthinkable." Well, Andrew Sullivan (he of settled mind) had better start thinking!

We wouldn't abandon Iraq, would we? We wouldn't make him and many of his colleagues look like total idiots for urging on the chariots of war - would we? Well, we may very well do so! Just like Vietnam, all over again! My hopes are that the Iraqi chaos may injure Dubya's reelection campaign enough to doom his prospects for a second term, and that we may still be able to salvage something good and noble from this Mesopotamian misadventure - under a Kerry administration!

Busy Weekend

First, Dannette's birthday party and get-together, followed by a successful foray to Thunder Valley (win: $775). Then the "It's About Time" fundraising concert Saturday night (I love the sound of live big band music!) Then Eileen and Wendy's dual birthday party in Roseville, and the normal Elks Dance, on Sunday evening. Can't remember names, only smiling faces!

Treasury Department Gets Behind the Bush Campaign

Like Noam Scheiber, I was also perturbed by the blatant politicization of the Treasury Department, as casually expressed in the ghastly Wall Street Journal article he mentions. The WSJ article made me choke on my sandwich when I stumbled across it during yesterday's lunch.

Do you like the moon?

I certainly do!

Just thought this was cute

Optimist: This glass is half full.

Pessimist: This glass is half empty.

Engineer: This glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

More Tales of Sacramento at Night

Driving home last night at about 11:30 p.m., making the bend in Second Ave. just over the RR from 19th Ave., I nearly ran over two raccoons cavorting in the middle of the road. Ah, springtime! A raccoon has been coming intermittently into the back yard (first noticed conclusively on December 26th, but suspected before), which has me worried. According to the encyclopedia, raccoons will eat chickens: if they eat chickens, won't they eat rabbits like Cloudy? And why are there raccoons running around anyway in the middle of a city? And now, will there be more of them? Run Cloudy, run!

War of the Worlds

Tuesday night, I watched a portion of everyone's favorite 1953 thriller, "War of the Worlds," on AMC. I especially liked the rather casual way they dropped an atom bomb on the Martians' Southern California camp, as millions of people watched, many without adequate eye protection, from the beautiful San Gabriel foothills, and how no one seemed particularly surprised that the bomb failed to dent the Martians' defenses. Having recently come out of WWII, I guess people then had a much more robust sense of slaughter and mayhem than they do today.

Richard Clarke

Nails the Bush Administration.

An E-Mail Dialogue with Walt and Gabe

So, Walt, your tongue-in-cheek review of "The Passion" still leaves me a bit in the dark. Was it really that bad? Did the movie have any 'redeeming' qualities at all? Any take on the purported anti-Semitism of the movie? Supposedly Mel Gibson is going to tackle the Maccabean revolt against the Romans next, which should be interesting: at least it would a form of penance, if Gibson feels that is necessary.

Gabe, I wasn't a "fierce" advocate of the Iraq War, but I did support it at the time. There was a long-term danger in leaving Saddam in power, and he was doing no favors for the Iraqis. Still, there was a question of trust: as a Democrat, I felt very uncomfortable trusting partisan Republican ideologues like Bush and Co. with responsibility for starting a war based largely on classified intelligence. How could one second-guess their judgements? The greatest strength of a democracy is open and free dialogue, and we did not have that luxury leading up to the Iraqi War. Even though there was plenty of time to have a debate (more time, actually, than just about any war in U.S. history), the absence of public information meant we were going into the fight willy-nilly, with blinders on. You'd think the Internet would have changed things, but the American people had better and more reliable information going into the Civil War than the Iraqi War of 2003.

My biggest fear at the time was that the Administration was underestimating the danger posed by chemical warfare on American battlefield troops. The fact that a war was even under consideration showed that the Administration had already determined, based on God knows what intelligence and with what kind of flaky thought process, that Saddam didn't have nuclear weapons. What if they were wrong?

What a surprise to find no WMD! At first, I had a sense of relief, but then there was the inevitable reaction: not only had the American public been bamboozled, but the Administration had bamboozled itself, as ideologue pinheads are wont to do. Saddam had apparently gotten rid of the WMD in the early 90's, in response to intrusive UN inspections and the onerous investments required to keep WMD programs going (Saddam preferred to loot Iraq rather than make investments). Nevertheless Saddam couldn't acknowledge having gotten rid of the WMD, because it was fear of WMD that kept so many of the Shias, and especially the Kurds, in a state of terror. So that liar Saddam lied and lied and lied, and if governments weren't so successful in compartmentalizing the important information and keeping it from the public, it's possible we, meaning we, the American public, would have eventually caught on to Saddam's con game, perhaps even earlier than the government did, and with no lives lost either.

In retrospect, the anti-war position was, sadly, correct. Even though Iraqi society is better off because of the war, Americans are dying every day because of it, and our future security is compromised. Bush pulled the lid off Pandora's Box. We will have precious little influence on the emerging postwar society there (partly because of Rumsfeld's irrational refusal to make Iraq safer by investing the place with more troops), although we must influence it as much as we can, just to mitigate the harm to come.

On your other issues, Gabe, I don't think Bush cares at all about either partial birth abortion or gay marriage: these are strictly political wedge issues, and his 'backbone' would evaporate instantly if he thought they could cost him even one vote of his overall total in November. Why get worked up over partial-birth abortion? It's a third-trimester sort of thing usually undertaken with a pregnancy gone tragically wrong. Why stand directly between a patient and her doctor when her life is on the line? If one wants to take a easy moral stand, ban first trimester abortion: the third trimester stuff is strictly for people who can take hard responsibilities. Indeed, laws aimed at partial-birth abortions are horrible, deceitful things that can kill otherwise healthy women. Let the doctors and their patients make these tragic decisions on their merits, on a case-by-case basis. Of course, the politicos went after partial-birth abortion because these things happen infrequently, and the costs for making that move were low - for them!

What was I talking about? Oh yes, the entire supposed purpose of this communication, the War on Terror. The issue is still of great importance, despite of all that has happened, mostly for two reasons:

1.) 9/11 was the test bed, the template, for a much-more ambitious form of terrorism: Mega-terror. Even if Al Qaeda falters, other groups or splinter organizations might carry on with the example.

2.) The infrastructure that financed and gave succor to the Al Qaeda has barely been affected by U.S. attacks. The Saudi charities still hand over the cash, the radical clerics still preach to their flocks, the Wahhabist schools are still open - little has changed except that future terrorists have been given hope by bin Laden's example.

U.S. attacks have (probably temporarily) deprived Al Qaeda of its Afghan base, but other bases are open. The chief radical Malaysian cleric will be freed from prison shortly, and I'm sure he is ready for action. Kenya looks like a good place to expand operations. Pakistan is still in good shape for Al Qaeda. Disaffected Muslim populations in Europe continue to expand. So, even though bin Laden apparently underestimated U.S. reflexes with 9/11, he may not have been mistaken about American resolve.

I would characterize 9/11 as being akin to personal violence: rape for example. Rape victims often act irrationally for years afterwards when assessing risks: America as a whole is doing the same after 9/11. Going to war in Iraq did nothing to help the war against Al Qaeda. Valuable resources were pulled off the case. We have, what, 140,000 troops in Iraq and 10,000 in Afghanistan? The numbers should be reversed. Many terrorists have lived to fight another day, and needlessly so.

One big trouble with Bush is that he and his clan conflate personal loyalty with loyalty to the country. Time and again, Bush and his folks wage vicious personal attacks when faced with criticism, even well-founded criticism. How is the CIA supposed to maintain morale when Karl Rove and Dick Cheney expose Agent Valerie Plame (a terrible crime), when her husband diplomat Joseph Wilson continued to insist that yellowcake uranium wasn't coming from Niger, counter to White House spin? Now the White House is going after Richard Clarke, a right-wing Republican who's been working the terrorism beat in four Administrations for 20 years, the man who they all turned to to save their asses on 9/11, because Clarke has made valid complaints about Bush's priorities, mostly about how terrorism wasn't such a big deal for Bush. Dick Cheney said on Rush Limbaugh's show that Clarke wasn't really in the loop on the important issues. Unfortunately, on terror and in the White House, Clarke WAS the loop. Clarke's only problem was that he was loyal to the country first, and Bush second (same problem as with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, by the way). So, in the White House, loyalty to Bush is such an overriding priority that any other loyalty, like loyalty to the United States of America, must take second place. Forgive me, but that's total horse****!

Regarding the War on Terror, I think Bush is approaching exhaustion. He can offer nothing more except broken bureaucracies and hopeful terrorists. A new start is required, and Bush is so stubborn and poorly-educated that he can't provide it. Besides, more lies can't carry you very far. As the Spanish electorate recently showed regarding Prime Minister Aznar's brazen attempt to pin the Madrid subway bombings on ETA, people hate it when they catch you lying right to their face, and they can kick you, and hard.

Now, who knows what John Kerry's real take is on the War on Terror: I haven't been following Kerry, so I can't say. I've read some hopeful things, though. Kerry's father was a diplomat stationed in Europe during the Cold War, and in the Kerry household conversation was apparently always about the Berlin War, or MAD, or similar such issues. Also, Kerry's father was quite a bit farther left than Kerry himself: the father disapproved of the younger Kerry volunteering for Vietnam, for example. So I suspect that Kerry actually has a much deeper education on diplomatic issues than Bush ever had, just from years of spirited household debate. Plus it couldn't have hurt to see action in Vietnam, and to have been in the U.S. Senate. Real life experience and all. Unlike Bush, Kerry married into wealth, and so he's not quite as smug, or narrow, or self-satisfied. He defied his father by going to Vietnam, and defied his government with his Winter Soldier hearings. He's had a rather mediocre career as a Senator, though. Maybe it's the absence of a real challenge.

I suspect that terror is high on Kerry's list of priorities, but he hasn't been talking about it much because most of the Democratic primary electorate this year (as in most years) is motivated mostly by economic considerations (even given Dean's meteoric flash across the sky). It's hard to get the terror sound bites out when the outsourcing sound bites have to get out first.

I would have a problem voting Democratic if I thought Kerry came from the pacificist wing of the party. I was shocked at how many supposedly intelligent writers and media types living in New York or San Francisco didn't quite grasp the immediate horror of 9/11: Jonathan Schell, Gary Kamiya, Alexander Cockburn, etc. The reason was partly cultural - those writers didn't mix with bond traders, or firemen, or police officers, even though these were their neighbors: it's not hard not to miss people you never knew, I suppose. I despaired that the Democratic Party had been set back an entire generation, and deservedly so, with tribunes like these bozos. There's no sign that Kerry is part of that nexus, though: for example, he urged Spain's new Prime Minister Zapatero to keep Spanish troops in Iraq and not withdraw them in the face of Al Qaeda's attack. In any event, I have no trouble voting Democratic this year - all it would take would be one more terror incident to show how really badly Bush and his Frankenstein Department of Homeland Security (there's fascist-sounding name if there ever was one) would respond - that is, if Bush could be called away from his golf game with Prince Bandar, or from his month-long vacation in Crawford, Texas.

With Bush's Iraq War, supposedly part of the War Against Terror, but in reality anything but, the worm has turned. No premature Fukuyaman End of History for us! History is on the move again! About time: I was getting depressed there! My recommendation is to abandon that decrepit scow, 'Bush 43', with its idiotic 'Mission Accomplished' banner, and jump on board Kerry's PT Boat, despite its inscrutable direction. Better the devil you don't know, I say.

(From Walt)
So I saw the Passion. It sucked: a total rip-off of "Jesus Christ Superstar". That scene of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss -- that was stolen straight out, except that in the Passion they didn't sing as much. And the part about Pilate washing his hands, that was in Superstar, too! I sense a big copyright infringement lawsuit here. The other thing, the sound quality was terrible; I could hardly understand what the characters were saying most of the time.

(From Gabe)
I would be curious to hear what Marc thinks. I am a bit frustrated because I am not entirely impressed by the GOP agenda but I am one of those "horrible" cultural conservatives who feel very strongly that the Democratic Party left us in the dust, particularly since 1992, where Pro-Life Governor Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was not allowed to speak at the Democratic convention because he opposed abortion as a right (at least the GOP allows pro-abortion advocates like Christy Todd Whitman and Tom Kean--and maybe Governor Schwartzennegger--an opportunity to speak at conventions and represent the party on a national basis). I am bothered by the emphasis that the Republican Party puts upon the acquistion of wealth and I am not exactly a supporter of the Iraqi War of 2003 (Marc was a fierce advocate--where are you now, you armchair general)? However, the President does show backbone for things he believes in, such as a ban on partial birth abortion and the definition of marriage embedded in law as a union between a man and a woman (as if it needs a legal definition--this whole thing smacks to me as the death of common law, since our whole culture is going haywire, and there seems to be a strong desire to define nearly everything by statute and amendment on the part of both sides of the enlarging gulf in the culture divide, and maybe it cannot be helped). Well, Marc?

Did you ever see The Passion of the Christ? I would be curious to hear your thoughts (you've already read mine...)


(From Walt)
Hey Marc: I've been wondering about your take on Kerry & the war against
terrorism. There are three Democrats which I knew in school, who I still
correspond with: John, Pete, and you.

John and Pete both put the war on terrorism at a low priority. In December
John listed for me his 5 biggest issues of concern for 2004; tort reform was
on the list, but terrorism wasn't. Pete thinks that Al Qaeda got lucky on
9/11 and they'll never be able to repeat it again. I think John's & Pete's
priorities fit well with the priorities of the Democratic Party, so they can
vote Democratic with untroubled minds.

My impression is that the war on terrorism is a high priority with you
(please correct me if I am wrong), and my conclusion after watching
Democratic candidates during the primaries, watching Kerry now, and
listening to Democratic friends and co-workers, is that the war on terrorism
is not a big priority for Kerry, or for the Democrats, or for liberals. For
me, the defining moment this year, when I knew I would not vote Democrat in
2004, was a full-page Candidate Comparison done by AP right after New
Hampshire. They had a row of candidate photos across the top, with each
candidate listing his/her positions on the issues down columns to the
bottom. The issues were defined in rows. There was a row for Health Care,
a row for Jobs, a row for the Deficit, the Environment, Education, and a row
for Iraq -- about 8 or 10 rows in all. The war on terrorism did not have a
row! It looks like none of the candidates felt terrorism was important
enough to emphasize! All -except Lieberman- opposed the war in Iraq. Fine.
However, the war in Iraq is only part of the war on terrorism, and if a
candidate is against the war on Iraq, and has no other plans regarding
terrorism, the actual plan must be to return the initiative to the
terrorists. So Kerry might truly represent John's and Pete's views, but I
sense that you may be conflicted about this election.

Please explain. Is terrorism actually a high priority for Kerry, despite
indications otherwise? What is his plan? Why isn't he talking about it? I
haven't heard his plan yet, except that I know he doesn't like the Iraq war.
Is terrorism still a high priority for you? Are you comfortable voting
Democratic this year?

Various Random Posts

Kylie Causes Accidents
An Amazing Archaeological Find
The Bar Mitzvah From Hell

Theater News

Here is the Davis Enterprise's review for "Guys and Dolls".

Last night, the DMTC crowd saw the final dress rehearsal for Garbeau's Dinner Theater's "Jesus Christ Superstar". I thought the stage was too small for the dancers - their movements were hemmed in. Sometimes there isn't much you can do with a small stage, though.

Carol Lee Pace, RIP

On Friday, March 12th, my cousin Carol Lee Pace passed away in Phoenix after a long illness. On Monday night, my sisters and I rendezvoused at Sky Harbor Airport for the memorial service to be held the next day. The three of us stayed overnight in a single suite at the pleasant Homewood Suites.

The memorial service was nice, even though the occasion was sad. I will miss Carol Lee's humor and presence: at the service I mentioned how she was like a little sister to my mom, and a big sister to me. Despite her absence from the memorial service, Carol Lee was unusually thoughtful regarding our needs for the day: she arranged for and paid in advance for the flowers. She also arranged to donate her body to science. Several of us, in a moment of gallows humor, speculated that she would end up as a crash test dummy: I mentioned this scandal and suggested other fates. In any event, her ashes will be returned in a few weeks.

It was great seeing my sisters, my two aunts, and numerous cousins (although I did miss seeing my art friends Deborah, James, and Doug on this quick trip). Cousin John seemed unusually attentive - I guess we all need to pay closer attention to each other from now on.

More Tales of Sacramento at Night

I was walking my dog Sparky at 1 a.m. on the morning of Saturday March 13th when I noticed what looked like smoke passing through the trees at a small park at Second Ave. and 21st Street. Looking more closely, I realized the smoke was actually vast amounts of pollen coming from the trees themselves. Interesting!

A Woman of Warmth Departs for a Colder Clime


The cast of "Six Women With Brain Death", Sacramento's long-running (six years!) theatrical show, bid bon voyage to Kathleen Reilley Dodd, who now departs Fair Oaks, California for Calgary, Alberta, in the company of her new husband, Matthew.


The Happy Couple


Kathleen tries to explain something I don't understand, maybe something about how she achieved success on the Sacramento stage.

Saturday, Feb. 28th was a happy (but wistful) day. Kathleen Reilley, with whom I worked in three shows at the Woodland Opera House ("A Chorus Line" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", 1999: "Guys and Dolls", 2001), is moving on. There was a nice party, hosted by her mother Mary, at the Rolling Hills Apartments clubhouse in Fair Oaks. It was a very nice party - numerous Canadians from Ontario (Ontarioans?) were present, all of whom seemed to be witty. Beautiful Andee Thorpe was also there, as was Beth Hidden, whom I hadn't seen in three years.

It was interesting to hear the gaming geek-speak in her special circle of computer gamers: with the unusual concentration of unworldly nouns, truly like a foreign language! What the eff is a bot, anyway? In any event, I'm happy for her!

What Happens When Arachnophobia

is disdained...

Let's Do The Time Warp Again!

Rocky Horror's Richard O'Brien honored.

More Tales of Sacramento At Night

On Friday evening Feb. 27th, about 7:00 p.m., I noticed that a fire truck and ambulance, both with lights on, had parked across the street from my house. Apparently while I was puttering around the rear rooms of my house, a neighbor woman, bicycling home from work, had been felled by a hit-and-run driver (there were loose descriptions of a brown Ford LTD). According to my neighbor, John, the helmetless woman, apparently suffering from a concussion, was already beginning to forget important details of the accident. This is disturbing, to say the least!

Before Leaving the Bankruptcy Theme

Here's an interesting letter that was posted on the Lucianne Posting Board:

There are the occasional unfortunate chains of events that also lead to bankruptcy.

In my case, I suffered a heart attack, followed by divorce (wife ran off to the bars, leaving young kids with me)followed by two heart ops to fix the problem, followed by an earthquake......all in a two year span.

Needless to say, I was buried under the financial burden, with a temporary loss of income (me) and permanent loss of income(ex) with additional burdens thrown on top, (childcare and earthquake repair.)

Add to that the bankers' lack of sympathy for my temporary payment troubles and the desire to forclose as soon as possible, and I had a choice of the lesser of two evils. I chose to file bankruptcy in order to properly provide for my kids.

Since then, I am doing fine, so are they, and I am known as a financial deadbeat.

The previous 20 years of excellent financial history meant nothing.

To say that all people who go bankrupt are being devious is a bit of a stretch. I would like to see how well some of you would do under the same situation.

Sullivan's Argument

It seemed to me the strongest argument against gay marriage was that the Full Faith Clause (FFC) of the Constitution would be affected if marriages in one state were not recognized in another. Andrew Sullivan makes the point that marriages are licensed by the state, and thus have never been subject to the FFC, wheras divorces are the result of judicial proceedings, and thus always have been subject to the FFC. In other words, a marriage between first cousins younger than 65 will probably not be recognized in Arizona (it's against AZ law), even if it might be OK elsewhere in the U.S., but a divorce must be recognized everywhere in the U.S. Game, set, match.

Bankruptcy and the Middle Class

Interesting article! The author's point is that many in the middle class have a lot fewer choices than you might suppose, and that when so many of them go bust at once, there are bound to be political repercussions.

More Tales From Sacramento at Night

Last night, while walking Sparky east along Second Avenue at about 1 a.m., sirens approached from ahead. A red sedan with its lights off roared through the stop sign at 24th Street, going about 70 mph along the residential street, and continued west. I'm not sure, but it looked as if the vehicle turned and went the wrong way (south) down one-way 21st Street and dodged into the neighborhood just south of my house. The cops, quite far behind in pursuit, missed the guy, and for the next half hour, they quietly roamed neighborhood streets looking for the miscreant. The guy apparently escaped.

You Can Fool All of the People Some of the Time

Andrew Sullivan makes interesting reading, in light of Bush's ill-advised effort to write a gay-marriage ban into the Constitution.

Weekend Travel to NM - Pretty Weather in Phoenix

On Saturday, I traveled to ABQ and spent a couple of nights there, returning yesterday. When I got there, my father had just been released from the hospital and he looked really tired (hospitals are notorious for their constant noise and interruptions). He slowly seemed to be getting better, but I'm still quite worried: with his weakened lungs, a chest cold would suffice to kill him, I fear. Ah, the price of youthful (and middle-aged) smoking!

I passed through Phoenix for a few minutes Monday afternoon, on Southwest Airlines. We touched down at 3:15 p.m. (PST), and were wheels up again by 3:45 p.m. Because of the Phoenix storm, the plane couldn't leave Phoenix until late, first to go to ABQ to pick us up, and then return to Phoenix for the connecting flights. So, I had a screaming 5 minutes in the airport to dash into a different concourse and just catch my Sacramento flight - no time for even a bathroom stop.

Still, it was very pretty. The flight from ABQ to Phoenix passed mostly over a vast fuzzy featureless plateau of cloud, but as soon as we approached the Verde River, the cloud deck broke up into a riot of cloud and sky and sun. It was raining in North Scottsdale, but the sun was shining in Tempe and South Scottsdale. There were premonitions of funnel clouds in the clouds, I thought: the clouds looked "funny" over North Scottsdale, and there was a strange "plume" (too crooked to be a funnel, but still strange to look at) reaching from cloud to ground far to the west, somewhere west of Luke AFB. The streets and parking lots glistened with water, and as the plane landed, I looked backwards from my window seat, and saw the pretty rainbow that was tagging the plane - so pretty!

On the flight out of Phoenix, I was wedged in between two beefy guys, and saw little, but we did experience some nifty turbulence a few miles SW of Walker Lake, in western Nevada (which made me grateful for the extra padding on either side).

Marvellous Josh Marshall Post

And this excerpt from a discussion about Bush's campaign isn't even the best part!

The support among conservatives has taken some real hits. The White House has decided that the long-predicted rising economy won't float them through this election. The situation in Iraq looks wobbly and likely to get worse before it gets better. So deprived of the ability to run on his record he's decided to save his political hide by trying to tear the country apart over a charged and divisive social issue which is being hashed out through the political process in the states.

It's his dad and the flag burning amendment all over again. Is there really anything that tells you more about a man's character than this?

Creatures From the Deep

These articles caught my imagination: one about an influx of Humboldt squid to the southern Gulf of Cortes, and another about a determined swimmer and his equally determined foe.

Not Going to Boston

The Edwards caucus meeting last Sunday was a real hoot. It took me a long time to actually find the building where the caucus was being held, at the Chinese Community Center near 9th and T Streets in Sacramento. There was a sign announcing the building's purpose - in Chinese, which unfortunately I don't read. The English fine print was hard to read as I passed by in my car.

A handful of people gathered outside the building. Volunteers registered participants. One fellow, Harold Fong, was actually campaigning to be a delegate. Inside, I was handed a ballot. Ballot instructions indicated that the voter should vote for no more than six candidates (given that there were only six candidates, two women and four men, it would be hard to do more, I thought). A fellow waved the ballot box around, collecting ballots. He said he was watchfully preventing ballot irregularities, but I thought what he really wanted to do was go home and watch the basketball game. So I voted for four candidates and left.

Then as I walked back to my car I remembered that, as a candidate, I was supposed to deliver a speech. So I returned. At 3:10 p.m., voting ended and the fellow called the meeting to order (in a room no larger than a kitchen). Candidates were given 1 minute each to speak (it seemed odd that the candidates spoke after the voting was done and not before). The one woman candidate present refused to speak at all. Myself and another male candidate spoke. Twelve people were present in the room. Upon hearing some audience members speaking just beforehand that they were there only to heckle (Candidate, please explain the Edwards position on Bosnia-Hercegovina?), I started my speech by lifting a chair menacingly towards the audience and saying I was ready for any heckling, and that I had no idea what the Edwards position on Bosnia-Hercegovina was. People laughed. Someone said Edwards position is that he believes Bosnia-Hercegovina exists.

Then the 64 votes were counted. Myself and another male candidate received six and four votes, respectively. Harold Fong, the biggest vote getter, got 35 votes. I murmured "I guess I should have campaigned," as I shuffed from the room. So, it looks like I'm out, unless something odd happens and the whole state of California goes for Edwards in the March primary. Even then, I might have to menace people to get to be a delegate.

Drudge Sludge

All these allegations of sexual indiscretions by John Kerry seem beside the point to me. Apparently Kerry had prostate surgery last year. I bet the last thing he's doing recently is pounding interns. Drudge has shot a blank.

The Hutton Report

I am truly appalled that Lord Hutton allowed Tony Blair to get away with a claim of total victory. What a whitewash: what a fiasco!

Empire

Here's a fine article describing the hazards of American Empire.

Also, I'm getting incredibly annoyed by what I see as Republican double standards at work, in criticisms of Wesley Clark not interfering in remarks by his supporter, Michael Moore. The GOP can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Bat Mitzvah in Las Vegas

Martin Luther King weekend was unusually pleasant in Las Vegas. I travelled there to see Rachel Gershin, 12-year-old daughter of my college friend Ira and his wife Marci, read from the Torah, and assume the responsibilities of adulthood.

I left work early on Friday, and took a roundabout plane trip to Las Vegas, passing first through Phoenix. The dilatory route was necessary because I made preparations for the trip only at the last minute: after the New Year debacle in Las Vegas, I was hesitant to go there again so soon. The trip was OK, however, and after renting a car, I checked into the suburban Suncoast Casino/Hotel (near exclusive Summerlin) about 9 p.m. I trifled the evening with some blackjack - after a $1000 plunge, I recovered and ended up even.

On Saturday, I woke up early for the bat mitzvah. I was overconfident regarding street directions in what is still an unfamiliar city and got lost, arriving at the ceremony in the temple (a converted branch bank) about 15 minutes late. Very nice ceremony: I tried to keep up with the singing and the Hebrew, even though it was my first Jewish ceremony ever. It was a bit distracting sitting directly in front of what had only recently been teller windows, however.

Afterwards, I saw Steve Zaintz (the Z), another friend (from high school!), who nowadays (and for some sometime now) owns and operates the Bangkok Cafe on Central Ave. in Albuquerque. I didn't recognize him at first - he had shorter hair than back in high school in the 70's, and he was wearing a suit. Nevertheless, he had to retire to catch up on some ZZZ's (late night gambling with Ira's friend Jeff Brofsky), and so I lunched with the rest of the congregation.

The reception was surprisingly elaborate. It was held in a ballroom at the Suncoast. There were two DJs to keep the party atmosphere going, a camerman to capture the event, and another cameraman to elicit testimonials. Lots of fun and games and dancing. Three times as much food as there were people to eat it. Spent time talking to Steve and Jeff. Danced a bit and did the limbo.

On Sunday, I went to Ira and Marci's house and lunched with his family. Nice time. In the afternoon, I went to the Gold Coast Casino, after reading that they had Sunday afternoon ballroom dancing there: no dancing, but inconclusive gambling instead: went up $1800, but finally left around 10 p.m. down overall about $120.

I crossed the street to the Palms Casino/Hotel, these days among the best nightspots in Vegas, or so they say. The place is supposed to be a lady magnet, but I found many 30-year-old guys instead. Kind of empty, too, on a Sunday night. Apparently we had a celebrity sighting: someone said "There's Mark Cuban!" (owner of the Dallas Mavericks). I stared at Mark: he stared at me. But since I don't follow sports, it meant nothing to me. The blackjack was good, though: I won enough to be $2,130 ahead for the trip.

Afterwards, feeling euphoric at 1 a.m. Monday, I drove over to the Strip, and ended up at Paris, Las Vegas. Five hectic hours later, after frenzied and aggressive gambling, I had won an obscene $12,527.50, for a total win of about $14,600 (20% of my annual income)! Amazing!

Later that morning, I skipped town for the plane trip back to Sacramento. VISA will get most of the $$$, but still, it's pretty surprising and pretty heady!

Most of my pictures bombed, but here's one I snapped while I drove away from the casino:

So, Is Blair Likely to Fall?

Could be, according to this account.

Oh, and the Poincare Conjecture may have been proven!

Left Coast Neverland

Here's an interesting article casting doubt on whether Michael Jackson is guilty of child abuse.

Myself, I've thought that Michael Jackson might actually be sincere in his odd way of celebrating innocent youth. His accusers better have the goods on him this time, or face complete loss of face.

New Year's Trip

This year I decided to renew my annual auto trip reflexes, driving from Sacramento to Albuquerque, back through Phoenix, then returning to Sacramento, passing twice through Las Vegas. Mostly a good trip, seeing friends and family, but got hammered (metaphorically speaking) on the return trip through Vegas.

After returning repeatedly for forgotten items, I finally left Sacramento on Dec. 26th about 5 p.m., passing over the Sierras on Highway 50, stopping briefly in South Lake Tahoe (loss $180), and spent the night in Hawthorne, NV.

On the 27th, I arrived in Las Vegas around 5 p.m., and spent the evening at the Mandalay Bay (win $850). Fled at midnight, passing over Hoover Dam at 1:25 a.m., and arrived at Kingman at 3 a.m. Couldn't find a room though, so I spent 2 cold, uncomfortable hours asleep in my car (which reeked of uneaten French fries) at the Silver Creek off ramp, about 20 miles east of Kingman.

Arrived in Albuquerque on the 28th at about 3:20 p.m. Saw the relatives. On the evening of 30th I saw college friends Karl and Karen and family. Very pleasant visit.

Departed Albuquerque for Phoenix on New Year's Eve, arriving at 7 p.m. for a nice visit with Aunts Millie and Helen. At Aunt Millie's insistence, I stayed the evening in her apartment (she stayed in a guest room). On New Year's Day, after a breakfast with art friends Deborah, James and Doug, Aunt Millie and I went to eat at cousin Melinda's, and saw cousin Carol Lee, plus several other relatives. I returned to Deborah, James and Doug's place in the evening, bought some art work, and had a pleasant time. Spent the night in Kingman.

On the 2nd I spent the day in Las Vegas wrestling with the Mandalay Bay and the MGM Grand over my wallet. They won ($3,152). Fled to Barstow for the night. Got back to Sacramento about 4:30 p.m. on the 3rd.

Two signs seen on the highway.... Near bakersfield, a sign for a company that washes out tanker trucks carrying liquid foodstuffs like milk, juice, etc.: Total Tanker Interiors. And a road sign near Fresno, showing what seems like an absence of imagination: Avenue 21 1/2.

Here are some pictures:

Cousin Joseph and Nephew Aaron


Dad


Cousin Carol Lee, Aunt Millie, and Baby Amanda (mother, daughter, daughter's granddaughter)


Deborah and James

Plus, of course, mug shots of the guilty pets:


My Sparky, looking doleful and dutiful


Plus Deborah, James and Doug's rambunctious kitten.

More Miscellany

Treason's Greetings and Chutzpah!

Bush's Troubles

Lazy Women

Bodysnatchers

An Opening for Democrats?

Here is an letter from my friend Walt, and the replies of both myself and friend John, regarding the possibility of the Democrats winning his vote in 2004, principly on the issue of terrorism. What is interesting is that Walt may move leftward even as John may move rightward - maybe there's a consensus developing here:

From: Walt
Subject: I may vote Democratic in 2004

I MAY VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE IN 2004!

For the first time in over twenty years, I am willing to seriously consider voting for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. This is a new development in my political awareness.


MY PERSONAL POLITICAL JOURNEY

I first became politically aligned in 9th grade, during the 1970-71 school year. This was the time of Earth Day, the Clean Water Act, and the Kent State Massacre. The single event which helped most to awaken my political mind was the December 1970 cover of National Geographic Magazine, which featured a duck swimming through an oil spill, and which signaled a conscious commitment by that magazine to join the environmentalist movement. From that time through High School and college, I basically had a liberal world view, and hence I voted Democratic in 1974, '76, '78, and 1980.

Beginning in 1978 and lasting until 1981, I re-examined this world view. This was the era of the snail darter, the establishment of affirmative action, the Vietnamese Boat People, and communist expansion into Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Angola, Ethiopia, South Yemen, and Afghanistan. After a 3-year period of questioning my own beliefs, I finally settled on a mainstream Republican world view, characterized by a foreign policy of defense against communist expansionism, and a domestic policy promoting capitalism. Although I was (and still am) somewhat sympathetic to liberal positions on the environment, sexual behavior, and separation of church & state, in a two-party system there are only two choices, and I have been voting a straight Republican ticket since 1982.


RE-ALIGNMENT OF IMPORTANT ISSUES BY 2003

By now it should be clear that the Democratic Party was on the wrong side of history vis-à-vis its acceptance of Soviet imperialism from 1968 to 1990. That's OK - the Republican Party was on the wrong side of history vis-à-vis black civil rights from 1945 to 1970. The world goes around for everybody, and we all have a turn in the sun, followed and preceded by a turn in the dark. The Cold War is over now, decisively won by Reagan, Thatcher, and their supporters, and it is time to move on. I do not judge the Democratic Party in 2003 by its Soviet policy in the 70s and 80s.

We all know what the big foreign policy issue is today: how to protect our land from terrorist attacks. My position on this is that I want to protect US soil from destruction, and US citizens from mass murder. I want this very much, and I am willing to re-examine old paradigms and change them if necessary, in order to protect ourselves.

President Bush has done much about this. He has attacked terrorists and military dictators in Afghanistan and Iraq, he has increased diplomatic cooperation with and/or pressure on many countries, he has made it difficult for foreigners to get visas, he has authorized the Patriot Act, and he has improved airport security. However, there is arguably much he hasn't done. He hasn't caught or killed Bin Laden or Saddam, he hasn't deported many illegal aliens, and he hasn't made it more difficult for foreigners to enter the country illegally. Are we now safe from terrorist attack? I don't think so.


THE 2004 ELECTION

For me, the Cold War is ancient history, and although I still prefer Republican capitalism to Democratic socialism, domestic policy is on the back burner this year. I am willing to let the Democratic Party govern for 4 or 8 years, if they can fight terrorism more effectively than Bush has. In other words, I am willing to consider voting Democratic, for the first time in over 20 years. I will listen to Democratic hopefuls, and judge them by the following tests:

Is fighting terrorism a priority for the Democrats, or not?

What do they propose to do in Iraq? In Afghanistan?

What do they propose to do about visa applications?

What about foreign Muslims currently in the US?

What about illegal aliens entering the US?

Do they wish to repeal the Patriot Act? If so, will they monitor foreigners or US citizens sympathetic to fundamentalist Islam, or will they allow them to act freely?

Is fighting terrorism a priority for the Democrats, or not?

I am not much interested in "Bush shoulda done X or Y". Monday morning quarterbacks make good couch potatoes; but in national leaders, I look for something more. Specifically, I wish to hear candidates tell us how they plan to fight terrorism in 2005, and whether they are able to "think outside the box".

So: will I change my vote for the first time since 1982, or will I vote Republican one more time? It depends. I already know how Bush handles the terrorist threat; now I'd like to hear what Democrats have in mind. Unfortunately, I haven't yet heard much Democratic talk along the lines I've indicated, and that worries me; but it's still early.

Walt



Hi Walt:

So far the Democratic candidates haven't offered much in the way of realistic terrorism defense measures, but if there's any hope in the matter, it's that Bush hasn't either, and so there's room for improvement everywhere. The trouble with terrorism is that it can be very flexible, relying sometimes on state sponsorship, sometimes on non-state actors like Al Qaeda, and it can be based on religious, tribal or clan loyalties. Terrorism based on conspiracies within alien host countries might well be impossible for the U.S. to eradicate short of internal revolution. An appropriate containment strategy is required.

Bush acted decisively against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and paradoxically against Iraq (whose closed society and inward-looking nature actually served to quell most Iraqi-based terrorism against the West, even if only temporarily), but by failing to commit sufficient resources to the struggle, Bush may have only heightened the threat. The Taliban and Saddam may yet return to power, and Al Qaeda has many new recruits if it can regain its balance (and since many of its homelands, like Saudi Arabia, are off-limits to our forces, it will find its balance).

Al Qaeda's center of gravity is very hard to locate, based partly in small villages in Yemen, crowded cities in Egypt, and wherever Saudi Wahhabi schools have taken root - Sudan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, among other places. We need the cooperation of people all over the world to stop terrorism, but some of our other actions, like our farm policy and tariffs tend to get in the way. When we do commit our armed forces, if terrorism is what we want to attack, we should go after these places - not Iraq. Iraq is a distraction in the war against Sept. 11th style-terrorism. In particular, we have to stop coddling the Saudis.

Gephardt, Liebermann, and Edwards supported the intervention in Iraq, but Edwards has since tried to backtrack. Because Dean did not support intervention, he actually has the widest room to maneuver on the question: it wouldn't surprise me if Dean, in office, flipped and committed even more troops to the battle, or came up with a different approach. Kucinich, Sharpton and Braun all have (probably impractical) neo-isolationist impulses regarding Iraq, and Kerry and Clark are all over the map. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

The left-wing intelligentsia in the U.S., who actually don't have that much influence on the Democratic party, really disgraced itself on Sept. 11th, an error which I interpret to class distinctions. The folks at 'The Nation' didn't know any bond traders or firemen or police officers (even though they shared the same city with them) and so they took far too lackadaisical an attitude regarding the potential of large-scale terrorism even after a full demonstration of the concept right in front of them. Even though many of them now support Dean, I think they would be surprised how little Dean will reciprocate that support.

I'm worried that our actions against terrorism have been ineffective. We're using Guantanamo to hold indefinitely, and in incommunicado, a variety of combatants. We should start processing them - release some, imprison others, and shoot the rest. We need to stop giving carte blanche to Saudi authorities who have been implicated in supporting Al Qaeda, people like Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan. We have a new Dept. of Homeland Security, but how effective is it, really? We have struck at Al Qaeda, but it's likely to strike back. We have to remain focused on the real sources of danger, and stop trying to run everything in the world - for example, stop terrorists from entering the country, but not stop even illegal aliens from entering the country - FOCUS.

---------------------------------------
By the way, I disagree with your statement that "by now it should be clear that the Democratic Party was on the wrong side of history vis-à-vis its acceptance of Soviet imperialism from 1968 to 1990". After 1945, both Democratic and Republican parties worked together against the Soviets (Truman's containment doctrine), and both parties accepted Soviet imperialism from 1968 to 1990 (Nixon's detente strategy). The left wing of the Democratic Party did not accept Soviet imperialism for the most part: rather, it objected strenuously to imperialism of all kinds, especially with regard to U.S. intervention in SE Asia, which could be (and was) interpreted as a neo-imperial enterprise. Of course, one can argue whether efforts against U.S. efforts meant tacit support for Soviet imperialism - I would maintain not.

The Soviet Union eventually collapsed of its own internal rot, exacerbated by revived nationalism in the Caucasus, the Baltics, and elsewhere. Once Gorbachev released internal terror, collapse raced ahead: the Soviet Union never reformed to become a more-or-less 'normal' society, like the one Gorbachev envisioned. Reagan's new arms race had only glancing effect on the process of collapse: the Soviets never made a serious effort to keep up with the increased pace of the arms race.

Marc


Hi Walt:

Thanks for sending your thoughts on the upcoming election. I can fully understand your concern about terrorism in view of the nature of the work you do. The prospect of some lunatic crashing a plane into a nuclear facility is mind-boggling and seems to be the proverbial "worst-case scenario" of an attack on any nation. Close monitoring of air traffic by the FAA is the last line of defense and certainly needs to be as strong as possible but the preceding lines of defense are trickier to figure out. The September 11 attacks were possible because of lax security at airports and childish inter-agency rivalries between the FBI, CIA and other organizations. It seems to me that after the ruinous espionage conducted by the Walker family, Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen there should have been major changes in procedures and monitoring of employees. And perhaps there should have been an effort to combine federal law enforcement agencies into a single unit. That might have allowed federal agents to pick up on the numerous clues that something major was about to take place. One can hope that a positive effect of that attack will be to develop a system for effectively preventing such terrorism in the future.

Clearly removing the Taliban and hitting the heart of Al Qaida in Afghanistan was a proper and response to the September 11 attacks. Using military force to overthrow Saddam was more problematical. It's good that he is no longer in control of Iraq but the price for the US, both in terms of lives that continue to be lost and our standing in the international community, is higher than we were led to believe. I'm concerned that we may be looking at a decade or more of US presence in Iraq and I would vote for a candidate for president who has a clear plan to stabilize that nation and remove American forces within a reasonable length of time, even if it involved initially sending in a larger military force in the short term. It may be many years before it becomes clear whether overthrowing Saddam in the manner we did was the right thing to do but in the meantime the president should do everything possible to try to mend fences with other nations which opposed the war.

Aside from terrorism, I have a list of several other topics which I feel must be addressed by the powers that be in Washington and any candidate who can address them honestly and forcefully will have my vote regardless of his or her political affiliation. They are:

1) Deficit spending MUST be halted. As it stands our nation is effectively bankrupt. The entire federal revenue for 4 years would be required to pay off the current debt. The fact that a character like Ross Perot could have a good shot at the White House purely on that issue alone demonstrates that the American people want to see it addressed. And, for all the talk to the contrary during the last 25 years, the republicans have been the worst offenders there. That makes it very hard for me to trust them.

2) Tort reform MUST be enacted. Every aspect of the American economy has been ravaged by having to defend itself against frivolous lawsuits. Personally I would like to see a loser pays civil tort system as exists in all of western Europe. Any candidate who would propose that would have my vote.

3) The manufacturing base of the US economy must be rebuilt. It has been altogether too easy for us to buy imported products and overlook the US manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the process. China has somewhere round a $100 billion trade surplus with the US. There is no excuse for that. It won't be an easy problem to solve but we must start moving to cut that figure.

4) Health care costs must be controlled. The much-vaunted health care system and the absurd health insurance system that funds it have been out of control for at least a decade. People who need insurance cannot afford it and even a minor illness can financially destroy a family. This is inexcusable and a disgrace to the nation. Is national health care the answer? I don't know, but I do know that the current system must be changed and I'm waiting to hear of a workable plan from any candidate. Of course this point and the previous one are DIRECTLY related to my second point (tort reform).

5) Tighten up bankruptcy law. It has become almost a routine matter for people and corporations to shrug their shoulders at their irresponsible--or criminal--conduct and file bankruptcy. It will take a national change in attitude but we need a leader who will at least try to address the problem.

I could add a few more such as crime control (making the death penalty a real tool in fighting crime instead of the rare event it now is) and taxation of internet and mail order retail purchases (a pet peeve of mine since I get wealthy customers--the people most able to pay taxes--asking me to ship multi-thousand dollar bikes to their out -of-state vacation condos so they can cheat the local economy out of sales tax revenue. It's legal and a totally obscene tax subsidy for the rich--a single mother can't ask the local grocery store to have her stuff shipped to her vacation home in another state.) but I'll leave it at that. The nation as a whole needs to address the breakdown of the family unit which has come about in the last 40 years and no president can do much about that.

I've voted for democrats exclusively since 1984 (in 1980, I cast what I feel was my worst vote--for John Anderson). In general I have been greatly concerned about the way republicans have allied themselves with religious extremists. The democrats have made their share of mistakes but they have not tried to erode the separation of church and state. I've seen the power of churches in small towns and large cities and it frankly scares me. Fundamentalist Christians are closer to fundamentalist Islamists than most people think and the main thing that separates them are the constitutional limits that define our nation.

Bill Clinton, despite his personal shortcomings, worked to reform welfare, reversed deficit spending and made an effort--imperfect to be sure--to improve an unfair and ruinously expensive health care system. He had international support and was addressing terrorism quietly, although in retrospect not nearly to the degree that was needed. Had his personal life not been such an embarrassment to the nation I think he might have had a real shot at greatness. I see the record deficit spending of George Bush and legislation being quietly passed to help big business, all done with plenty of pomp and flag-waving and feel like we're on the wrong track. I don't know who among the democrats I will vote for. Lieberman impresses me but I don't think his campaign will last. Clark has a background that would make him electable; I don't agree with him on everything but he seems honest and sincere. Dean is good but probably does not have the support he would need to win. If John McCain could get the republican nomination I would probably vote for him.

So that's my long-winded take on the election. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Regards,
John

Those Who Like Factory Farms....

Don't check out the MEATRIX!

Miscellany

Bush Practices Shock and Awe on the Queen's Gardens.

Maybe next time with low-level nukes.

Meanwhile, the Bush Administration wants to abandon nation-building in Iraq.

Andrew Sullivan appreciates Howard Dean's fundraising (even if he looks askance at Dean otherwise).

Germans worry about Guantanamo.

And where did the caffeine in the sea come from (as if we didn't know).

So Much for the Stiff Upper Lip

Last night I went to see the British import "Love, Actually", with Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson. What an incredibly dumb and stupid movie it is! Hugh Grant was OK - there is a nice moment when he, as the British Prime Minister, basically tells the American President to go to hell (a very popular position in Britain these days) - but the movie's concept is so idiotic that nothing can save it.

Apparently the screenwriter had noticed how pleasant the scene is at London's Heathrow Airport, when long-separated people see each other again, and hug and kiss. That's OK, for a 15-second movie. Then introduce lots of first and second-rate British actors, many of them gorgeous but vapid, and link all these people we don't care about with many, many, various inane love stories, and have "I Love You" romantic moments, over and over and over again, like an endless Heathrow Airport receiving line gone haywire, or a Paul McCartney inspired "All You Need Is Love" computer virus (or its sister virus "Silly Love Songs") replicating itself in a Darwinian frenzy across the Internet, for 2 1/2 excruciating hours. Awful doesn't even begin to describe the experience.

It didn't help that we had come into the theater halfway through the movie. At the movie's end, I thought it was the worst movie I had ever seen in my life, but then we stayed to see the beginning of the movie, and I saw that Hugh Grant had actually had some nice moments. So, among the worst ever, probably better than "Last House on the Left", or various Wes Craven nightmares, but not much better.

Computers and romance - a bad combination!

PROGRAM IWUVYOU
DO 10 I=1, 5000000000
WRITE(6,*, ERR=999)"I LOVE YOU!"
10 CONTINUE
GO TO 1000
999 WRITE(6,*)"YOU JERK!"
1000 STOP
END

There, don't you now feel ever so much more loved?

Arnold's Self Regard

And the useful role it may play in California politics.

Just Wondering....

What's Up With Arnold?

Does his strategy to rely on a budget cap initiative make sense? Yes - the legislature is so hopeless Yes - to gain negotiating leverage No - he should submit a budget first No - it just sets up a stalemate Who Can Say Just Yet?

Current Results

Fiddler on the Roof

The show opened at DMTC this weekend, and the Davis Enterprise gave it a good review. DMTC is now casting Jesus Christ Superstar, and after seeing Monday night's dance audition, I'm hoping Melody Davi gets a good role - great stage presence!

Received a Postcard From Cuba

What the ..... - never received a postcard from Cuba before! It's a request to correspond, but it looks like the correspondence will be in Spanish, so it may be awkward, only going as far as my high-school Spanish permits. Still, it's strange!

Targeting Sex Researchers

The Bush Administration prepares to axe the research.

Janell Gohring

RIP. A memorial service has been scheduled.

What Went Wrong Regarding WMD

We are getting closer to an answer. The Administration lies to itself!

Folsom Renaissance Fair

Sunday was enjoyable. I met Alison Roest (formerly Lorenz), her husband Daniel, and their son Craig at their home in Folsom, and we all went to the Folsom Renaissance Fair. The Fair featured some jousting, many booths, a colorful itinerant band of merchants and ne'er-do-wells, and low sword prices (tempted there with the sword prices!)

I last saw Alison about ten years ago, when she used to attend Pam Kay Lourentzos' ballet class on Sunday morning (a class which still meets and which I attend faithfully!) They were the most gracious hosts, and their home is beautiful. Still, I felt a tinge of sadness for the passage of time - irrecoverable time - that we all experience as life goes on. Ten years! Hard to believe!

Interbike Convention and the Foundation Room Party

I just got back from a 36-hour whirlwind visit to Las Vegas. Almost no sleep at all, and none last night!

On Monday, I met with John Wright, my good college friend from New Mexico Tech, and together we went to the Interbike Convention at the Sands Convention Center. John runs Pro-bike Bicycle Shop in Oklahoma City, and he was in Las Vegas Saturday through Monday to order bicycles and parts and products from various wholesalers and dealers. Acres and acres of bicycles and bicycle parts and doo-dads were on display at the Convention Center! We had a wonderful time looking at all the applied technology! Since I had a rent-a-car, I took John to the airport for his trip back home.


Bicycles galore!

Then Monday night, I ventured on crazy blackjack gambling of course (probably lost about $400 total for the trip, but if not for the most magnificent winning streak in my life - a $2000 win in half an hour at Mandalay Bay - it would have been much, much worse).

Then somehow I got invited to a more-or-less exclusive party on the penthouse floor of the Mandalay Bay casino. A fun Australian named Paul D. sat down at our table, and began winning. We hit it off, and so at 11 p.m., he invited me to accompany him to the Foundation Sin party on the top floor of the Mandalay Bay casino and resort.

Foundation Sin apparently refers to the International House of Blues (HOB) Foundation Service Industry (Sin) party, the only 'public' event held on the lavish top floor, weekly, on Monday's. HOB is one of the most important tenants of the Mandalay Bay casino. The atmosphere is very heady. Here is an excerpt of an article from the NY Times:

But sometimes this city's democratic approach can be more fun than New York elitism. "Las Vegas is so good at imitating reality that it's often better than the real thing," said Hal Rothman, author of "Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the 21st Century." "If you go to the Venetian, you don't have to worry about pigeon droppings, and when you go to the New York-style clubs, they're not pretentious and there aren't as many rules."

Over at Foundation, a Moroccan theme lounge with tapestries and daybeds on the 43rd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, a group of executives from Bear Stearns were drinking in a private room that runs $250 a night. "They treat yuppies like rock stars here," said one executive, Matt, who declined to give his last name. "It blows New York away."

Large numbers of people were already trying to get past the guards at the elevator - due to Paul's membership, we were able to just breeze our way past the velvet ropes (oooh, so elitist, and yet, so generous of Paul)! Loud music, the best scenic vistas of the city, and of what the city has to offer. A wonderful place, the best place! Here is a photo of the magnificent view of the Strip, originally posted at this Web Site.


No better view in Vegas!

Paul D. introduced me to his boss, Ron B., and Ron's guests, former wrestler turned Bronx-bakery-owner John, and John's brother-in-law (Joe?). John and I became fast companions, and for a time we moved around together. Due to Ron's membership, he was able to reserve the central section of the Foundation Room, the favored portion in front of the fireplace and delimited by couches, for just his guests, which now apparently included myself.

As the room filled up with acres of beautiful people, they increasingly tried to move into the couch area, but guards kept them away - I felt awkward at being one of the few people in the room with full range of motion. A few beautiful women lingered for conversation, including a student from Florida and a helicopter pilot from North Carolina.

Ron B. was very considerate of his guests - he lectured me on the importance of treating celebrities just like anyone else, since it was clear this was something of a Hollywoodish crowd, and anyone could be there. Ron B. loved explaining his philosophy of generosity and joie de vivre.

Later, Paul showed me various VIP lounges, with their florid Hindu/Buddhist jungle decor. Then Paul abruptly disappeared. At 12:45 a.m., for unknown reasons, we lost our claim to the fireplace area - Ron B. retreated to a VIP lounge with a big-screen TV showing time-lapse pictures of cumulonimbus clouds, and Utah arroyos. I skittered about the premises, checking out the two dance rooms, including the hip-hop room, and intruding over the velvet ropes there ("Sir! The ropes are there for a reason, sir!") Expansive, yet private, the club has many attractive features, and I'm sure a membership is highly-prized.

In the Foundation room, another DJ spun house. There was a funny moment: in the loud environment, I asked the DJ to play Angie Stone's "Bottles and Cans", the wonderful mix by Guido Osorio that is unavailable commercially. Misunderstanding, the DJ dutifully produced an empty can of Red Bull and an empty cocktail glass. I laughed, he was embarrassed, but it was OK - he never did play that tune, though, just other interesting ones.

Ron B. had promised that the party would push the limits of decadence, mentioning a provocatively dressed (or undressed) woman who walked on her hands at a previous party. I waited, but the limits were never pushed that hard, at least by 2:30 a.m. After a while, I retreated downstairs to the casino, had my big winning streak, met a few other fun characters (like Simone D.), left to go to the MGM Grand, lost big there, unfortunately, and then got ready to return to Sacramento in the dawn's early light.

Various Media

Pre-election media first

The BBC gets Mary Carey confused with Reva Renee Renz (since corrected). And the San Jose Mercury News babbles about fringe ideas.


Major Candidates

What Arnold and the celebrities were up to.


Minor Candidates

First AP article out.

Some of the Sacramento Bee's lame coverage.

From the San Jose Mercury News: first, then second.

Here's what we are really waiting for - the documentaries!

Here are some of Pauline Luben's great photos of the minor recall candidates.


More Analysis

Why Davis cratered.

Of course, and more Mickey Kaus' detailed blog coverage!

Joel Kotkin and Josh Benson form the New Republic.


Cartoon

And, of course, Mark Fiore!

Election Day

Had a good time yesterday, on my victory lap around the state. I started in Sacramento, went to the "Purple Cow" in San Francisco, travelled to San Jose in the evening for the party at AP Stumps, and then, very late, back to Sacramento.

I voted at the River Life Covenant Church in Sacramento (19th and Broadway) about 10 a.m., and then spent about half an hour importuning voters to please, please vote for me. The voters seemed to be an unusually cranky lot - they wondered whether I was breaking the law just by being there (it's OK as long as I stay more than 100 feet from the door). Then I went to work and answered a few E-Mails, before driving off to San Francisco.

Fortunately the KMTP Channel 32 studio was easy to find in San Francisco. When I arrived, hand-held cameras in the lobby were focused on Candidate Georgy Russell: in a few minutes Candidate Christopher Sproul arrived with his surfboard. After various effusive greetings, we went upstairs to the third floor, to a big room where about ten break dancers did the MOST AMAZING moves on a checkered plastic surface (e.g. spinning upside down on the crown of one's head). Just the most wonderfully-skilled people!

As we candidates sat side-by-side on an avocado green vinyl couch, hosts Jay and SheShe asked how our experiences had changed us both personally and politically. I stated how I had gained a renewed appreciation for the virtues of acting out and making a loud noise. After two takes of the interview, the break dancers showed us a few moves, which we got imperfectly. Georgy and I then made a feeble effort to teach the break dancers ballet steps (of course, many, if not all, of the break dancers already have classical training, but we were hamming it up for the camera). Georgy couldn't easily turn barefoot on the checkered plastic surface, so mostly it was an unprofitable wrestle of arms and legs, but we did squeeze out a reasonable fish. Christopher got better pictures on his surf board - Georgy looked especially cute on the surf board. Then after a few pictures with SheShe and Break Dancer Rosa, it was back downstairs to catch a portion of my interview on "Purple Cow" (all the interviews were running on a continuous loop, and mine happened to come up when I was there). Laughed my head off! Then, after getting an autographed copy of Georgy's famous thong, it was off to San Jose.


Fabulous Dancing!



Candidates Georgy Russell and Chris Sproul; Hosts SheShe, and Jay - the "Purple Cow" interview



Break Dancer Rosa and SheShe


In the Duncan Science Building at the campus of San Jose State University, after handing out my card to a group of women students in lab coats standing in the hall holding pieces of filter paper in the hall (for what, I don't know), I located my friend Jerry, who teaches meteorology there, and we got some pizza. After much amiable conversation, it was off to find the downtown restaurant AP Stumps, for Jon Zellhoefer's party.

Eight candidates were there on Election Night (Zellhoefer, Sproul, Miller, Dole, Valdez, Lane, Foss, and Cullenbine), plus the ever-helpful Cheryl Dietz, Jon Zellhoefer's campaign manager, who did more than anyone to make the Candidates' Forum a living entity, plus her family. Bay Area channels 2, 5, and 7 were also there, and some footage was taken by all three networks of me meandering around behind the various correspondents. It soon became clear that we were going make less of an impression on the vote totals than I expected, but we still had some fun (one of the photographers took a great picture of Diana Foss and I whooping it up, because Channel 2 reported she had 275 votes and I had 248 votes).

I drank a margarita and accidentally dropped the glass on the floor. I took some more pictures, and made my way, quite late, back to Sacramento.


Candidate Bob Cullenbine

A Russian View

An English-language poll by some readers of Pravda, on who should be Governor of California.

Forgot About This!

Cute Governor animation.

Election Night Plans for Some Other Candidates

According to the LA Times Food Section.

Election Day Plans

On October 7th, I plan to spend the morning at or near my polling place in Sacramento, voting and campaigning. In the afternoon, I plan to visit "The Purple Cow", at KMTP Channel 32, at 1504 Bryant Street, San Francisco, between 2 and 5 p.m. (their program will air at 9 p.m.) Then it's off to San Jose for two events: Candidate Jon Zellhoefer's party at A.P. Stumps, and another event (location unknown as yet) put on by 'Yes on the Recall Democrats' and hosted by John Estrada. Don't know when I'll get back to Sacramento - maybe in time to be sworn in!

Sisyphus and the Pancake Breakfast

Saturday and Sunday were difficult days, mostly because of the Sisyphean effort to put together the Alternative Candidate's Pancake Breakfast at Fremont Park in downtown Sacramento (Between P & Q, 15th & 16th). Pam Van Kamp, President of the Fremont Park Neighborhood Association, found herself largely abandoned by her troops, just at the time her vehicle stopped running. So on Saturday, I was pressed into service, buying a tent and tables on sale at Costco (because the City of Sacramento inexplicably insists that when one cooks in parks, one should cook within flammable tents), buying pancake griddles at Target, helping with flyers, going to and fro, etc.

On Sunday, things went wrong, of course. The tent came without poles (explaining why it was on sale), there were repeated trips to bring supplies, and various items, like bowls and a spatula, had to be obtained. Fortunately, the Alternative candidates on Jim Vandeventer's big bus from southern California were game: Diana Foss manned the griddle, and Dick Lane whomped up the batter. Everyone had enough to eat, and we debated each other. Warren Farrell and Diane Beall Templin, in particular, took advantage of the speaking opportunity.

There were also a few candidates I haven't met before: Bill Chambers, Warren Farrell, and Darrin Price spring to mind. And the mysterious Christy Cassell.

Then of course, the effort to schlep all the stuff out of the park! Exhausting!


Candidate Diane Beall Templin and her partner John (Wadsworth?), in a characteristic pose



Candidates Jim Lane and Diana Foss save the day with pancake savvy

Conform or Else

What can one make of the attack by Arnold's supporters on fellow gubernatorial candidate Georgy Russell? Fascism ascendant? Group zealousness? Whatever it is, it's ugly, and I hope it's not part of a trend in California politics.

Later on Sunday - Thanks for the Recall!

After lugging tons of stuff back home after the pancake breakfast, and after delivering last Monday's hard copy LA Times with our pictures in it to Pam Kay Lourentzos at the ballet class I was skipping that day, it was off to the State Capitol for the Alternative Candidates' rally. We had the north steps of the Capitol - Arnold had the south steps. Arnold had 'Twisted Sister', too much sunshine, circling helicopters, and a very large audience: we had about ten candidates, pleasant temperatures, circling pigeons, and whoever drifted past on their way to Arnold's rally. We did some nice debating, with Jon Zellhoefer posing questions to C.T. Weber, Gerold Gorman, and myself. Gerold and myself made a good tag team - maybe we should do radio together.

Christy Cassell set up a table to sell merchandise, and she spoke a little too. I find her presence to be a little mysterious, since she's not one of the 135 - I guess she's a write-in candidate. She's good-looking and apparently has a flair for merchandising. There have been a few other candidates too, including a Mr. Walton from San Diego, who also has a big bus, and a support staff too. I'm not sure if these folks are just people who barely missed qualifying for the ballot and decided to run write-in candidacies anyway, or whether they knew an opportunity when they saw it. In any case, they are another interesting wrinkle on the campaign.

Afterwards, I tried to encourage the candidates to follow me to Davis' Central Park for a meet-and-greet. Because I didn't ride Jim Vandeventer's big bus from southern California, I didn't realize that the bus wasn't going to San Francisco after all, but was instead returning empty to southern California. So if I was to get candidates to come to Davis, I would have to act fast. I agreed to meet Jon Zellhoefer at the Hyatt on L Street, but because I started talking to an Arnold supporter, I was slow getting over there.

Guess who I met in the lobby of the Hyatt in Sacramento? I strolled in, all sweaty, carrying my long, orange, utility-grade extension cord, and looking for Jon Zellhoefer. There was this familiar looking guy in the lobby talking to several young people, and saying something like "I didn't want to quit, I wanted to stay in, but (blah, blah, blah) soft money". It was Darrell Issa! I identified myself and thanked him for the recall! Then off I went to find my car....

I went to Davis, just to be sure if any candidates were there, but no one was there. I picked up the Sunday Davis Enterprise and saw Corey Golden's fine interview regarding myself, returned home for a shower, and then back to Davis again for DMTC's Sunday evening "Music Man" at the Varsity Theater in downtown Davis. What a day!


North steps of the State Capitol, with Jon Zellhoefer, C.T. Weber, Gerold Gorman, and the mysterious Chris Cassell