Marijuana Legalization


In June, a good high school friend, Walt Kubilius from Aiken, SC, attended the 14th annual Symposium on the Cannabinoids, in Paestum Italy, sponsored by the International Cannabinoid Research Society. Walt's summary of the proceedings posed a question concerning marijuana legalization that I heard none of the 2003 California gubernatorial candidates address, which can be summarized as:

• the medical marijuana movement, without saying so explicitly, proposes to give the role of determining the safety and effectiveness of new drugs to legislatures and public referenda, rather than to medical professionals or the FDA, and that may be a problem.

Does anyone want to address that particular question? It's thought-provoking! Here's Walt's write-up:
-----------------------------------

I recently attended a research conference on cannabinoids, a group of compounds one member of which is active ingredient in marijuana. I learned a lot at that conference, and I’ll share that here.

Cannabinoids are a group of chemicals, some natural and some synthetic, which share the property of being able to either increase or decrease the concentration of a neurotransmitter, glutamate, in brain cells. Modulation of glutamate levels in the human or animal brain affects/controls mental status. It’s a natural process - every minute, every day, operation of higher brain functions are associated with transient increases and decreases of cannabinoid concentrations, and therefore glutamate concentrations, in the brain.

Cannabinoids which occur naturally in humans are "endocannabinoids", and the molecules with which they interact are "cannabinoid receptors". In order to control glutamate concentrations on a time scale of minutes or seconds, both positive and negative feedback must operate. Cannabinoids which promote glutamate formation - which "activate" the receptors, are "agonists". Those with the opposite effect are "antagonists". Two endocannabinoid agonists are known. There also must be endocannabinoid antagonists as well, but none have yet been identified.

Endocannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors participate in higher brain functions: learning, memory, attention, and planning. Plants and lower animals do not have endocannabinoid systems; vertebrates do. A strain of mutant laboratory mice has been developed which lacks one of the three cannabinoid receptors. They look just like normal mice, but they are learning-disabled. Unlike insulin and vitamins, cannabinoids are not necessary for life, but they are necessary for learning and memory formation.

THC is not normally present in the human body, but it affects brain function because the molecule’s shape is similar to the shape of anandamide, one of the endocannabinoid agonists. The marijuana plant does not produce THC for its own use; plants cannot learn or form memories. It is thought that the marijuana plant evolved THC production in order to either be attractive to certain animals (like flowers are attractive to bees), or to be unattractive to certain animals (like toads taste bad). Its not yet known which way it goes.

There are definitely legitimate medical uses for cannabinoids. Its been known for over 20 years that marijuana can reduce nausea, enhance appetite, reduce intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients, and relieve muscle spasms in MS patients. However, recent research has found additional possible applications for cannabinoids. Probably the most important one is that cannabinoids facilitate early death of some kinds of cancer cells; they show promise as a chemotherapy. Endocannabinoids may also have a role in regulating bone mass. In addition, they may serve an antioxidant role in cell metabolism.

These known and possible medical applications form the basis for the medical marijuana movement. However, it is not clear that cannabinoids found in marijuana - THC, cannabinol, and cannabidiol-are the best choices for treatment. Marijuana has side effects known to every college student: intoxication and lethargy which make driving safely, operating machinery safely, or any mental work impossible. The trick is to find a compound with maximum benefit, and minimum side effects. Since endocannabinoids occur naturally in the brain, they might serve better. Drug companies and academic researchers are experimenting with synthetic cannabinoids, which exist neither in the animal kingdom, nor in the plant kingdom. It remains to be seen which compound is best for which medical condition.

Medical marijuana activists point to the known effectiveness of marijuana in managing MS, glaucoma, and nausea, and advocate legalization for medical purposes. I can’t blame people for wanting it. If I had glaucoma or MS, I’d obtain marijuana, illegally if necessary, to see for myself whether it could help. Marijuana advocates insist it is safe, and like to point out that nobody ever died of a marijuana overdose. That may be true, but acute nonlethality does not preclude chronic lethality. Nobody ever died of an acute tobacco overdose, and yet tobacco kills hundreds of thousands per year due to chronic effects. Medical marijuana advocates seem to be unaware of the possibilities. Here are some things I learned at the ICRS conference:

• In contrast to the common wisdom of the 1970s, marijuana is addictive. Researchers in Baltimore interviewed 20-year heavy-use pot smokers. They each reported an average of 5 unsuccessful attempts to quit. Reasons for failure were psychological withdrawal symptoms, including craving for marijuana.
• Long term frequent marijuana use causes enduring cognitive impairment. Researchers in Australia measured test performances of three groups of subjects: long-term heavy users, long-term light users, and non-users. Long-term heavy users performed worst in tasks related to learning, memory, attention, and planning. In addition, long-term users showed reduced MRI activity in the prefrontal lobe and hippocampus. Since Alzheimer’s disease affects the same brain functions, it is possible that persons destined to develop Alzheimer’s may show symptoms earlier if they are also long-term pot smokers.
• There is a "Fetal Cannabinoid Syndrome" observable in rats, analogous to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Progeny of female rats dosed with cannabinoids while pregnant showed hyperactive behavior while juveniles, and learning/memory deficits in adulthood.
• Marijuana causes the HIV virus to replicate faster. Scientists at UCLA dosed HIV-infected human white blood cells with THC, and subsequently found viral loads 50-60 times higher in the dosed cells as compared with un-exposed HIV-infected cells.
  

Several effects listed above are quite serious. Despite the claims of some, medical marijuana use will carry significant risk for some patients.

Debate on medical marijuana touches cultural battlefields. First, is the conflict between local vs. federal power. Efforts to make it accessible are made locally, it cities and states. It is the federal government which resists. Second, is the libertarian or counter-culture argument that there’s nothing wrong with using it if we want to. I believe that this is the major motivation of medical marijuana advocates; a desire to promote alternative lifestyles, more than a desire to treat patients. Centers of the movement are the centers of alternative lifestyles, and centers of medical expertise are not highly involved in the movement.

What has not received enough attention is the "Trojan Horse" of the medical marijuana movement. Without saying so explicitly, it proposes to give the role of determining the safety and effectiveness of new drugs to legislatures and public referenda, rather than to medical professionals or the FDA. There’s nothing special about marijuana. If it can be approved for medical use without the sanction of the FDA, then so can any number of treatments. For example, cancer sufferers who don’t want to undergo surgery will be encouraged to try various speculative and perhaps unsafe or ineffective remedies. The patent cure-all medicine days may return. Thalidomide-type tragedies may be repeated.

If the medical marijuana advocates want to make cannabinoids available for safe and effective medical use, they have already won. Pharmaceutical companies are developing and testing cannabinoids, including THC, cannabidiol, endocannabinoids, and synthetic compounds. They are going through the process, and may be in drugstores in several years if they are found to be safe and effective. The advocates don’t mention this much.

I don’t actually care whether marijuana is legalized or decriminalized for recreational use. It’s not morally wrong. It is no more dangerous than alcohol, and perhaps less so. However, long-term use is self-destructive. I do not wish to assign the FDA’s technical evaluation responsibilities to city councils without first clearly talking about the medical consequences down the road. I haven’t heard much of that talk yet.

Shame

There is a time for shame: shame can be good. Shame helped propel the Peace Movement of the 60's, with it's revulsion against patriotic symbols. There was an intimation of shame with Abu Ghraib. Nevertheless, the time is not ripe yet to indulge the impulse. Because it wasn't MY government that did this: it was THEIR government. THEIR Supreme Court, THEIR proto-fascist jackboot neoconservative mentality. False election means false legitimacy. I'll indulge shame after the election.

More Tales of Sacramento at Night

Last night, about 1:45 a.m., while walking Sparky north on 21st Street, a high-speed chase came through the neighborhood. The perp came east on 2nd Avenue, over the tracks, with four police cruisers in alarmed pursuit, then turned right (the wrong way) down 21st, passing just a few feet from my inattentive dog. The evil-doer turned left on 3rd Avenue, disappeared a while into the neighborhood, then reappeared, turned right again onto 2nd Avenue after having gone north on 24th Street, and roared off to Oak Park. Where they went after that, I don't know, but the sirens echoed in the distance. Sparky, as usual, took little note of the commotion.

Bush Just Kills Me

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

Hi Cheryl!

Cheryl Bly-Chester called today! She's looking for political support from the left side of the political spectrum for a political appointment, and I'll do my best to help such a fine Fellow Historical Figure!

Prediction

Given the unusual polarization of the electorate I wasn't really surprised that Kerry didn't get much of a post-convention bounce. In fact, I predicted it (although I kept the prediction to myself, so it doesn't count). The second part of the prediction, however, has yet to occur, so it's game: I predict that not only will George W. Bush fail to get much of a bounce from the Republican convention, he will actually see an erosion of his support. I think this will happen because of outrageous rhetoric at the convention and the antagonistic and hostile welcome the Republicans will get in New York.

Looking at current electoral vote predictions, it's quite impressive to see just how close they hew to the 2000 Election results. What a brittle, polarized, stubborn group of people we've all become!

Carbon Morons

Re "Are Power Plants Crying Wolf Over Lawsuit?," August 2 Sacramento Bee: Bee staff writer Chris Bowman did a horrible disservice to his readers by suggesting power producers exaggerate the difficulty of controlling carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Traditional pollution control focuses on eliminating trace gases in the exhaust, but to a considerable extent, carbon dioxide IS the exhaust. Bowman propagates the idiocy that a regulatory approach can help stave off global warming. Promoting efficiencies, not creating new inefficiencies, is the ONLY workable way to slow global warming. That, and conservation. It's like two approaches to weight control: cutting back on desserts or cutting off a leg. Both approaches "work", but only one is helpful. Time for Bowman to go back to school.

Baaa!

Persistent, Intelligent, Aggressive......Sheep.

Random Weekend Notes

Saw Vallejo Music Theater's "A Chorus Line" on Saturday, directed by Pam Kay Lourentzos. The show was good: the parts were well-cast and the dancers well-rehearsed. The fellow playing "Mike" (I'll find the program) was a phenom: I also liked "Sheila" and "Bobby" and "Bebe" and "Paul". Regina was fantastic as "Cassie". And it was great to see Monica and Michael Miiller on-stage again.

The weak point of the show was the music (not live). It was vaguely unsettling to see the audience reflected in the mirrors during "Music in the Mirror": Cassie, the mirrors, .... and all her friends too.

Saw another show on the weekend too: unsettling, unexpected, worrisome, even. Makes me nervous.....

Went to David Holme's and Jeremiah Lowder's birthday party at the Carmichael Garcia's: it was great connecting with those folks again (David and Lori and Jeremiah and Kristin and Keri and Richard and others). We got news of the Elly Award nominations from Ray Fisher during the party. The great annual game Community Theater Russian Roulette awarded a bushel of nominations to RSP (deservedly or not).

Went to the weekly Carmichael Elks Ballroom Dance. One African-American woman was wearing a pretty pin, which seemed to be shaped very much like a spider. I asked her if the pin was symbolic. She said not really: she was wearing a black widow pin because that was what she was!

Strange weekend.

Al Qaeda in Spain

Can't forget this fine link. I remember Osama bin Laden's first public remarks after 9/11: he warned Christians to leave Al Andalus. Just like the last 500 years hadn't happened!

Fafblog

Pretty darn funny blog! I'm tempted to copy his style, but a rabbit and a dog talking sotto voce in sober and measured tones just doesn't cut it.

Ron Reagan

Has issues with G.W. Bush.

Democratic Convention

As fine an affair as you could ask! Everyone is united! Democrats like Howard Dean were furious when the national leadership, in a patriotic spirit, unwisely tried to work with Mr. Bush on a variety of important issues (e.g. Sen. Edward Kennedy working with Bush on education initiatives; Democrats joining with Bush on the Iraq War, etc., etc.) The Angry Democrats pointed out, with their endearing red-faced screams, that Bush took this willingness to be weakness, and indeed, Bush betrayed every Democrat who ever worked with him (except maybe Zell Miller). The Angry Democrats were right, of course: they won that debate with the national leadership in March, in the primaries. Everybody is happy now. No more concessions! Onward we march, to November, to Armageddon!! Happy people (but not quite like Michael Moore's creepy happy shining Saudi people).

Offer of Credit

I'm much relieved that Bank of America has offered DMTC a credit line, based on the strength of the company alone, of $175,000. That's not enough to complete the new theater all by itself, but it'll be a big, big step.

I wonder if I'll be called upon to help out, with a 2nd. I hope not, just for simplicity's sake, but we don't live in simple times.

Mr. Ghailani's Capture

From the comments: "there are known to be elements of the Pakistani military and security infrastructure which are sympathetic to - and may be providing aid and comfort to - Al Qaida."

It's worse than that. Musharraf is actually dependent on the favor of jihadi groups in and out of Al Qaeda. Musharraf has to appease America and the jihadi groups at the same time, which probably means Bush will never get top-rung Al Qaeda leaders from Pakistan - I'm sure the Pakistan military knows approximately where they are - but the second-rung people like Ghailani are vulnerable. Musharraf is just looking out for Number One (Musharraf, of course).

Is Kerry Able Enough?

Chris Suellentrop has an interesting question:

"Even a casual viewer of Hardball knows that the first rule of an election that involves a sitting president is that it's a referendum on the incumbent. This election, however, has turned out to be the opposite. It's a referendum on the challenger. Kerry probably isn't responsible for this turn of events, but he's benefiting from it: The referendum on the incumbent is over. President Bush already lost it. This presidential campaign isn't about whether the current president deserves a second term. It's about whether the challenger is a worthy replacement."

In last year's California Recall Election, the September 24th CBA debate, the only one that Arnold Schwarzenegger participated in and by far the most watched debate in California history, did much to establish Schwarzenegger as a viable candidate. Arnold didn't have to do very much - after all, there was the embarrassing squabble with Arianna Huffington, where he indirectly offered to put her head in a toilet - but it was good enough to convince people he was good enough. That low bar was the only barrier between Arnold and the governorship. Same this year with Kerry and the Presidency. Kerry doesn't have to meet high expectations: all he has to do is show that he's at least G.W. Bush's equal, and Kerry will soon be picking out his favorite wallpaper for the Oval Office.

Wedge Issues

By the LA Times Rick Perlstein:

Republicans are skilled at reaching into the distant past of Democratic candidates to stage their melodramas. Democrats wouldn't have to go back far at all. Take something President Bush said in a 1993 Houston Post article: Heaven is open only to those who accept Jesus Christ.An aggressive campaign by Kerry and the Democrats would pressure Bush to explain whether he still believes that. As it happens, Bush has an answer: Billy Graham told him not to "play God." But thereby hangs the wedge.Put the issue in Bush's face again, forcing him — Chop! — to choose whether to offend one party segment or another. Republican voters who believe you have to be Christian to go to heaven, and want their president to believe the same, fall to the right side of the hatchet. Moderate Republicans, who like Bush for his tax policies but are embarrassed to be associated with intolerance, fall to the left.

The False War on Terror

By Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria:

It is increasingly clear that the conflict in Afghanistan falsely fed the idea that the war against terrorism was a real war. In fact, Afghanistan was an exception. The reality of this threat, the very reason it is so difficult to tackle, is precisely that it cannot be addressed by conventional military means. Yet the prism of war has distorted the vision of important segments of Washington, especially within the Bush administration. This has produced bad strategy. The Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis has written on the Bush administration's strategy and describes its three pillars as hegemony, preemption and unilateralism. All three approaches seem justifiable if you believe that we are in a war that can be won militarily. All are counterproductive in a struggle that seeks to modernize alien societies, win over Muslim moderates and sustain cooperation on intelligence and law enforcement across the world.

Antipodes

Some people sample good food. Some people sample good wine. Some people sample the entire Earth. (I wonder sometimes if aliens from Titan dropped a spacecraft randomly on the Earth, what they would find).

Virgin Surprise

After watching Runaway Stage's "A Chorus Line" this afternoon, the DMTC borg retired to Arden Fair mall to sample the new Cheesecake Factory there, but the effort turned into a debacle:  the place was far too crowded.  After getting separated from the DMTC folks, I ended up eating alone, but Michael McElroy found me, and we ended up going to Virgin Megastore, where CDs, DVDs, and related entertainment paraphernalia are usually found.

To my surprise, on the new merchandise display, were copies of the 9/11 report, released late last week.  I didn't realize Virgin also sold books.  I especially didn't realize Virgin sold politically topical reports.  I quickly snatched up one of the books.  (A caustic blogger is taking bets about how many pages of the report G.W. Bush reads).

Time willing, I hope to read the 9/11 report.

The DMTC borg eventually ended up, predictably enough, at Max's Opera Cafe, but vast amounts of time were squandered this evening.  Cheesecake Factory another time.......

More on Minnesota

(Rereading the article, it appears Minnesota does not identify party registration on its lists of eligible voters, so the GOP's effort does make some sense, but still....aren't they flirting with the possibility of a backlash?  Is it that hard to target their base?  What is really going on?)

Wilson's Veracity

One thing that is beginning to bother me regarding the entire Joseph Wilson truth-telling brouhaha is whether or not the combatants are talking about different periods of time.  Most of the supposed contacts between Iraq and Niger were said to have taken place in 1999 or earlier.  In 2002, Wilson was dispatched to evaluate whether anything recent had happened in Niger.  So - what period of time are we discussing here - old news (1999 or earlier) or new news (2000 and later)?

In any event, to me, the damage done to Wilson so far appears slight.  The Republicans don't have a lot going for them, and the continued sniping just brings unwanted attention again and again and again to those precious 16 words.

Getting a Grip

Dealing with the WWSJ paranoia.

The Party Wants to Know!

"But it's not as if we're asking for Social Security number and make and model and serial number of car. We're asking for party preference," he said. "Party preference is not something that is such a personal piece of data." 

Actually it's the most important thing to know, isn't it?  But that's available on the list of registered voters anyway.  So why ask?  I suspect the point is not to identify party preferences, but rather the snoopiest, most effective volunteers.  For more important missions, to come soon! 

Ad Buys and Battleground States
 
There was an interesting article in the Sunday New York Times showing where the Bush and Kerry campaigns are buying television advertising (maps unfortunately appear only in the print edition).  Not surprisingly, most of the money is going into places considered electoral toss-ups.  Nevertheless, there are some battleground areas where very little money is being spent, and I find that a puzzle. 
 
For example, despite large TV ad buys in New Mexico (my home state), there appears to be nothing happening in the Las Cruces area (second-largest city in the state).  That's no doubt because Las Cruces is far from Albuquerque, the state's largest city, but much closer to El Paso, Texas, and since Texas is considered a Bush lock, little advertising is coming their way.  Nevertheless, the state went for Gore by just a few hundred votes in 2000, and it would seem just prudent for both campaigns to toss some money into the El Paso TV market.  What gives?
 
Similarly, entire states are being neglected that have shown rather close margins in recent polls.  For example, Tennessee.  Or North and South Carolina.  Arizona too (I wonder how solid those recent polls are that showed a Bush surge there after McCain squelched the Democratic veep talk, given how equivocal the polls had been before?  Times, they may be a changin'.)
 
There's a lot of room for mistakes here!

What a Crock!
 
July 20, 2004    Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- President Bush said Tuesday his re-election will ensure safety for Americans as well as for those in the rest of the world in the war against terrorism.

"After four years more in this office I want people to look back and say, 'The world is a more peaceful place,"' Bush told supporters at a community college in Iowa. "Four more years and America will be safe and the world will be at peace."

The Argument Commences
 
Regarding the meaning and importance of the WWSJ Sky Terror story.....

Here We Go Again!
 
Clever Arabs foil airline security.

Been Listening to Air America
 
On 1240 AM.  It's nice to have an alternative!  It reminds me of the liberal blogosphere, but in the aural dimension.  What a concept!

Methane and Ammonia
 
On Mars!  Oh my!  (big indicators of life)

Cartoon
 
The one that got away

Amerika Berserk

An illustration of why our problems in Afghanistan are deepening.

Easterbrook Mismeasures Moore

Gregg Easterbrook tells bigger fibs than Michael Moore does (Daily Express, TNR On-line, July 12th). Moore stretches and simplifies, but he rarely lies outright. Concerning whether a B-52 was killing Vietnamese people on Christmas Eve of 1972, who is more likely to be to correct: Moore, who extrapolates from the commemoratory plaque that the bomber wouldn't have encountered a MIG unless it had been so engaged, or Easterbrook, who seems to suggest that the encounter between the B-52 and the MIG was purely accidental. It is possible to celebrate the amazing skill required to shoot down a MIG while also deploring the mission of the B-52: these are not contradictory positions. Easterbrook thinks Moore is anti-American, but maybe Easterbrook is just anti-Vietnamese. Most of the supposed errors people like SpinSanity and others seize upon are of the same sort: small technical omissions that obscure a larger and deeper truth that the rest of us can clearly see if we just open our eyes.

Reno 911

The Monday, July 5th trip to Reno was pretty disastrous, but what was stranger was the peculiar illness that took hold of me on Wednesday. It felt much like a hangover and pretty-much debilitated me for a day (but I had just one glass of wine!) Science News suggests that hangovers may be a form of inflammation. And I do have a shin splint (either a tear or a form of inflammation, which arose inexplicably, given that I've been idle since the weekend, at the same time as the hangover). It's strange that there was such a lag between drinking the wine and the hangover, but it may have been precipitated by the cumulative effect of several nights of poor sleep. In any event, with the help of aspirin, I hope I can reassemble myself in time for 'Damn Yankees' this weekend.

Nostradamus

Keith over at Subway is involved in an interesting project: using numerology to interpret the writings of Nostradamus. Keith is using the writings of Nostradamus like a Web Page, and using the various quatrains as hyperlinks. So far, he has discerned that there are at least two texts hidden within the the writings of Nostradamus, one in first-person and one in third-person.

I wonder if Keith will eventually conclude, as others have, that George W. Bush is the Anti-Christ?

Useful Links

Stories of a list of compliant reporters who parroted Ahmad Chalabi's lies
Eerie parallels between the price of gas and Bush's popularity
Evil NASA administrators plan to ditch a satellite in perfect working order, just because they think it costs too much
Mubarak's battle against the Muslim Brotherhood
Is the Bush administration trying to spring a July surprise?
The Palms of California

and lastly, but not least:
Flesh-Eating Bacteria
(important, since Chavo actually suffered from this horrible disease last year, and lost part of his abdomen as a result.....)

Damn Yankees

The Davis Enterprise review came out regarding DMTC's "Damn Yankees." The reviewer wrote: "'Whatever Lola Wants' is fine, but - again - could use a bit more oomph to make it sizzle." I thought this critique was a bit odd...Megan Soto does an admirable job with her dancing. How much more oomph would be required? I thought maybe it was a matter of interpretation: Megan's cold and manipulative, vs., say, someone else's angry and fiery. A friend then pointed out that Megan's interpretation didn't have enough levels, and so the character couldn't evolve sufficiently during the show. Hmmm.... So maybe Megan had too much oomph at the beginning, and not enough at the end? I don't know, acting is all such a mystery!

The Producers

With Katherine Arthur, I saw the travelling Broadway show, "The Producers", on Thursday July 1st, at Sacramento's Community Center Theater. As expected, a very, very funny show! "If your intention was to shoot an arrow through my heart.....Bullseye!"

Mary Young and Peter Baldridge also saw the Thursday performance.

Fahrenheit 911

I missed the opening of F911 on the weekend, but I did catch it on Monday, June 28th. The Tower Theater was remarkably crowded for a Monday, and I had to settle for an inferior seat.

There was only one part of the movie that I considered a stretch: just prior to the recent war, Baghdad wasn't all happiness and light, and the Iraqis DID have American blood on their hands, if not so much recently, then from Gulf War I.

Nevertheless, the movie is a triumph and many of its points have needed a public audience for too long. Once again, Moore's critics are going to miss the point and go after secondary matters.

For example, immediately after I got home, I caught Joe Scarborough on MSNBC declaiming against Michael Moore. Scarborough repeatedly insisted that Moore had stated that the U.S. had gone to war in Afghanistan to safeguard UNOCAL's pipeline project: having just seen the movie a few minutes before, I knew that what Moore had said was that the Bush Administration had continued negotiating with the Taliban over the pipeline even after the African embassy bombings and the Cole incident had given us ample reason to shelve the pipeline project, and that the new leadership of Afghanistan contains former UNOCAL advisors (people like belabored President Karzai).

Scarborough's desperate efforts to punch holes in F911 continued on Tuesday night (fact-checking is an unfamiliar burden to right-wing pundits, who usually just make up stuff, and doubly frustrating too, since its so easy to get their own facts wrong...all you have to do is casually watch F911 to see how badly Scarborough screws up his own analysis).

Then there are the professional fact-checkers, people at Spin-Sanity.org, who often miss the forest for all the trees. SpinSanity chastizes Moore for using Jeffrey Toobin's point about Gore winning the 2000 election if overvotes were counted statewide in Florida, and not clarifying that this was the only scenario by which Gore would have won, when the real crime is that the overvotes WEREN'T counted because of the U.S. Supreme Court intervention. Once again, as with 'Bowling for Columbine', Moore's crime was he oversimplified the matter under consideration, in order to make his point. Gosh, flay Moore's hide for that! It's not like anyone else ever oversimplified - Rush Limbaugh, for example, or shall we say, George W. Bush and his certainty concerning Saddam's WMD?

The Saudi flights out the country after 9/11 are another point: the fact of the flights, with the need for special permission, is not nearly as important as the absence of FBI questioning of bin Laden's closest relatives and what they might have known of the plot.

Moore is right to focus attention on business connections between the Taliban, oil companies, and the Bush Administration. After all, it wasn't until recently I learned California's right-wing Republican Dana Rohrbacher lobbied on behalf of the Taliban. These connections need to be understood.

I'm thinking of following the advice of Andrew Sullivan (A Blogosphere Challenge) and taking a tape-recorder into the movie, so I can get a solid transcript of the movie so as to counter the critics more easily (and not, as Sullivan wants, so as to criticize Moore more easily). Moore has done the nation a service. We should all applaud his efforts!

Interesting Discussion Regarding Iraq

Juan Cole

Thumbs Up

Roeper on Bush hatred.

Ned Roscoe Wonders About Voting

(from last to first, a Gubernatorial Candidate E-Mail Thread)

(Marc Valdez)
I think of American democracy like the Space Shuttle Columbia, accelerating into space, with chunks of foam blowing off the external fuel tank. It's hard to tell which little piece of foam might blow a hole into the wing. When voter participation is high and the know-how to run the democracy is widespread, America's flight possesses legitimacy and is safer as a result. When voter participation is low, and people become alienated from the business of government, America's flight becomes vulnerable to events.

Was September 11th the chunk of foam that blew a hole in the wing of American democracy? Many shields of secrecy fell on September 11th that stripped the electorate of proper knowledge and understanding of what our government is up to. The more-involved electorate of the 1850's or the 1910's wouldn't have stood for it without a fight, but we are more alienated these days (as we have been since WW II, actually), and easier to control as a result. We are now reaping the result (the Edmonds affair, with an apparent coverup by the government of a terrorist group recruiting within the FBI; the Halabi spy investigation, led by an overzealous alleged child molester; the disastrous Plame affair, which sowed distrust between the White House and the CIA, to the point where the CIA has to use serious muscle to bust up Ahmad Chalabi's Pentagon-approved Iranian spy ring; and the attorney-general-who-cries-wolf, whose terror warnings apparently have the sole purpose of distracting public attention when bad news regarding his department's inattentiveness dominates public discussion, such as when Saudi terrorists were learning how to fly).

"America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone." Remember, this did not happen in 2000! The clarification of ambiguous Florida results was stopped by judicial fiat. We have been living under a government of uncertain legitimacy ever since. How far will we go before, like Venzeuela in 2002, we start experimenting with troops in the palace and mobs in the street? Voter participation helps preserve the American experiment and helps preserve public safety. A safer public, after all, means less demand for blood products!


(Lawrence Steven Strauss)
Considering all of the people who have sacrificed and gave their lives so that we can live in a democratic society, I believe everybody should exercise his/her right to vote.


(Ned Roscoe)
Should I deregister? Should you? What do you think of this argument, you who are so passionately active?

If I was even more cranky than I already am, I’d ask the Registrar to remove me from the voting rolls. I am not disaffected because of my experience as a candidate. Running was fun. Nor did my experience as a proponent of a ballot initiative puts me off. I knew most people disagreed with me before I registered or petitioned. It’s not personal.

Napa’s election troubles are also not a factor. Compared with what I know of other counties, Napa’s election bureaucracy is a model of efficiency and John Tuteur is a stickler for proper procedures. Those who make their living from elections say that if people knew how their votes are handled, they wouldn’t bother to vote. Minor mistakes don’t bother me.

I can predict the election results but that won’t keep me from the polls. I enjoy the pageantry of democracy. Relatively rational people get seized with delusions of grandeur. When the system works well, money and power gravitate towards two poles which may not be very far from each other. The two camps bid for marginal positions without alienating their core supporters. It’s a great game, but I don’t have to play it.

America is stable and prosperous enough that we can take it for granted that election results will be accepted peacefully by almost everyone. We can argue about how decisions are made in Napa, California and the United States, but we know that elections play a smaller part than ballyhooed by editorial writers. As long as government has such tremendous power, the money will find a path to the power.

Duty to God, family, friends, employers, neighbors, regulators, and tax collectors keep me pretty darn busy. People ask me to register to vote and then to vote their way. I wish they’d get their priorities straight. I might vote Libertarian, because I like those people. They need every vote they can get to maintain their position as the 3rd largest political party. And, touch screen voting is fun like a cheap version of Vegas. But first, I ought to donate blood.

How Do Conservatives Know The Confirmation Process is Corrupt?

Priceless stuff!

Back to the Future

Movies of late have been a disappointment. I was disheartened by the way the promising start at that international congress of 'The Day After Tomorrow' was ruined, by riding roughshod over the Arab delegate's request for clarification of the counterintuitive information he was being fed. Angered, with no outlet, I decided instead to start a fight with the people sitting behind me who wouldn't shut up. Maybe when theaters dissolve into shouting and mayhem from annoyed fans who just wasted their money, moviemakers will spend $50 or $100 from their $100 million budgets and ask technical folks how to improve their screenplays. After all, those LA tornadoes in 'The Day After Tomorrow' could have looked so much cooler if the cinematographers understood that tornado funnels in close proximity dance around each other in whirling circles! Moviemakers are fools - we don't have to be fools. Rent more technically-exact movies, like 1953's "The War of the Worlds" instead!

Dear Russo, Marsh & Rogers

Last year, with the recall effort against Governor Gray Davis, many of us appreciated your leadership role in the state GOP in promoting healthy political debate. This year, I'm appalled to learn you are taking a leadership role in trying to get theaters from showing Michael Moore's new movie, "Fahrenheit 911." How hypocritical is that? That's a decision for theater management to make, based on what they believe audience interest is, without pressure from you. It's time you jokers back off!

Marc Valdez
(Former) Candidate for California Governor
http://marcvaldezcalgov.blogspot.com

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

On Friday, I saw the documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," an Irish production about the coup attempt that nearly overthrew Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. The film had a refreshing lack of nuance: Hugo Chavez good, his enemies (the globalization goons called neo-liberals...basically what we call conservatives in the States) bad. The left-right divide is so sharp in Venezuela: like a heightened red-blue U.S. divide! There was a lot of talk on the Right about the corrupt values of the Left: all that was needed was the appropriate "wedge" issue to exploit!

Coup attempts really cause a lot of tension and chaos: In the absence of Chavez, who had surrendered and been jailed incommunicado, the struggling government swore in the Vice President. I liked the attempt at solemnity during the swearing-in ceremony, on recently restored National TV, while an idiotic ringtone interrupted the Oath of Office and people scrambled to find the stupid cell phone. Solemnity was so hard to reach, even though the situation could not have been more grave: instead, with all the endangered lives, people were overwrought with emotion. The twelve or so of us in the theater had a good time, pumping fists in the air. I wish I understood more about the political background, but that would have just complicated things.

Feels like we are in the 60's again! Throw away all that heavy baggage about how things are more complicated than they seem. Be gone, shades of gray! No more malaise! That must mean Michael Moore's new movie is approaching release. They had a trailer for that too, and it looked pretty good, with little irony, and many opportunities to cheer for the good guys.

Inhumanity

This post made me think.... I remember once looking up the Life Magazine that covered the Hiroshima bombing, just to see what people in 1945 thought about it. There is a charming article, with color photos, showing two American soldiers using flamethrowers to successfully set afire a Japanese soldier hiding behind some tropical foliage. It was pretty clear that Americans, of the settled sort that routinely read Life Magazine, considered Japs to be no more than infuriating animate insects. War does terrible things to one's fraternal sense of humanity. In 1945, however, we had a more robust sense of honesty about what we were doing than we do now. We didn't lie as much then, although people like George Orwell could sense the shape of the future to come. Long live Big Brother! (sorry, Little Brother - I wasn't talking about Jeb!)

Sistani the Big Winner

Juan Cole sees Ayatollah Sistani as a big winner in recent Iraqi negotiations, the Kurds as potential losers, and the Americans and British as quite weak. Sistani's determination is beginning to yield results. But will a civil war with the Kurds result?

Mexican Munchies

This story is fun:

Taco Bell patron in Iowa charged in chalupa assault
Associated Press

June 8, 2004

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A man who claimed he didn't get the taco he paid for has been charged with assault for allegedly pelting a Taco Bell clerk in the face with a chalupa.

Nancy Harrison told police she was working the drive-through Thursday night when Christopher Lame, 24, ordered some food.

He later came into the store, complaining he didn't get the taco he had ordered, police records say. Harrison said that when she asked for a receipt, he went back to his car and brought back the bag.

Harrison said she told him the store was closing, and as she turned away, a chalupa hit her in the face near her right eye. She said she ran into the parking lot and took down the license number as the motorist was driving away.

Lame was identified through the license number.

He is scheduled to appear in court June 15.
-----------
Friend Gene says:
Taco Bell has become a Midwestern institution--there would be mass chaos without it. It's the only place open at 2:30 am after a long night of partying. And that's just where you should be after a long night of drinking--in your car, navigating the narrow drive-thru lane whilst fumbling for loose change.

I say:
It's the strange nomenclature that causes problems. Never having ordered one, I must admit I don't know what a chalupa is. We're not very sophisticated in our Mexican food tastes, even in New Mexico. We just keep adding chili powder, hoping no one asks us to identify what we are eating. How much farther behind they must be in Iowa? That's what comes from that belligerent culinary Mexico City style they've got going on. In the 1980's, in Tucson, the big rave was the restaurant chain (2 restaurants in Tucson and 1 in Mexico City) called 'La Parrilla Suiza' (The Swiss Grill). They don't even have chili at all there. Just big gooey masses of cheese on steaks, in a faux European manner, but with mariachis. Everybody loved it, but most importantly, no one understood it.

Friend Tony says:
one of Tucson's best Mexican restaurants, going back to the 1970s, was a place out on the west side called, i think, Karichimaka. i had my first chimichanga there, and they had mariachis on weekends, but the food was damned good.

I say:
I had my first chimichanga in Tucson: they arrived in NM only after I moved to Tucson, in 1980. That's when I realized that there were regional Mexican food cuisines....although I should have realized that when I visited Tijuana in 1977 and saw shark tacos, which struck me at the time as really bizarre, but then, there's the Pacific so close!

Steyn on Saudi Arabia

I like conservative Mark Steyn less and less as time goes on (same with blogger Andrew Sullivan, for similar reasons), but Steyn hits the nail on the head here.

Reagan Memorial Stuff

Reagan did NOT win the Cold War: still, Reagan's impact was greatest with rhetoric. Eastern Europeans noticed other stuff going on, however, like the place falling apart from neglect.

Myself, I never liked the guy.

Mary Walker, Torture Attorney

Hard to believe this chain of links!

Thirtieth Anniversary Song for Jan & Steve
(Words by Tim O'Laughlin)

At the vow renewal party at the Vet Memorial, Saturday, June 5th.


Doug Ackermann and Tim O'Laughlin

To the tune of "Worlds Apart" by Roger Miller (from Big River)

Steve:
I see a vision of glory when I cast a show, here at DMTC, DMTC
You keep composure in crisis while my temper blows, here at DMTC, DMTC
We had a dream, we made it grow
We're co-producers, so on with the show

Jan:
We felt the music inside us, it had to come out, here at DMTC, DMTC
But we'll never make it to Broadway, of that, there's no doubt, here at DMTC, DMTC

Both (in harmony)
We took a dream, we made it grow
So people just like us could be in the show!
It's thirty years and we're still here...you and me...here at DMTC, DMTC
Together, at DMTC

Steve:
And if you build me a theater, I'll give you the lead!

Jan:
Twaddle-ee ah dee dee dah dee dee dee

Miscellaneous

More Details about that self-Caesarean
George W. Bush is an Iranian intelligence agent
D.C. Realtors abandon Bush
The Khobar Al Qaeda Assailants Escaped With Police Knowledge

Give Me a (Fill in the Blank)

What's your term for a soft drink?

Mars Details

Here's an interesting discussion of the lines of speculation fired up by the Martian rovers - a lot of interest in Spanish river sediments, for one.

Carpe Diem!

I have produced a first draft of a book, called "Carpe Diem! - The 2003 California Recall Election and the Candidates' Forum" (Across an Oz-like California, aspiring amateur politicos band together on an elusive search for support).

Today, I E-Mailed the first draft to five of the other gubernatorial candidates (Renz, Foss, Weir, Badiozamani, and Gorman), to get their reactions and criticisms. In two weeks, I hope to have their feedback. After an extensive update, I hope to find a publisher.

Perle Begins to Backpedal

Interesting article! Perhaps correct! Wish he had said something a year ago, when he still had some credibility left!

They Have That Sixth Sense, You Know

When times got bad for Jimmy Carter in 1980, a killer rabbit led the charge. This year, it's a cicada.

Spring Recital Time in Woodland!


Ashleh Workman, Catherine Schneider, Hope Caristi, and Melissa Lopez


Bridget Moore

Breaker Morant

An interesting analogy between Abu Ghraib and Breaker Morant!

Miscellaneous

Gothic fantasies get too real.
Albuquerque man pets the jaguar.
Indiana man eats the cicadas.

Abu Ghraib

The Abu Ghraib scandal could have been easily avoided by proper staffing and by assiduous adherence to the Geneva Convention's rules regarding prisoners of war. The Administration has repeatedly chosen to assert its dominance over international institutions like the U.N., not only in regards to authority, where the Administration's arguments have great merit (the U.N. has repeatedly made really stupid decisions in the Middle East and elsewhere), but also in the matters of standards, where the merit of the Administration's arguments are much less obvious.

Rumsfeld has not asserted that the Geneva Convention might have been out-of-date and needed to be improved (since it dates to WW I) so much as he's asserted that the U.S. doesn't need to be bound by the Geneva Convention at all, presumably because Americans are purer than other peoples and despite the temptations to torture that wartime always presents. Rumsfeld's disdain strikes me as radical in spirit - a true conservative knows that all people, including Americans, tend to succumb to their worst natures in wartime. If Rumsfeld had argued that the Administration would abide by the spirit of the Geneva Convention, even if not necessarily by the letter, it would still have been helpful to protect the prisoners and jailers alike in the event of a scandal: instead, he cast scorn on the Geneva Convention, as he does with anything else that impedes his will. Rumsfeld did not adequately appreciate that poor handling of prisoners could cast doubts on the legitimacy of the entire U.S. enterprise in Iraq.

Still, just by adequately staffing the prisons, trouble might have been avoided. The trouble was that Rumsfeld has also been conducting a campaign against most of the generals in the Pentagon, asserting that they overstaff their forces. Rumsfeld's position is that modern battlefield technology allows for smaller, more effective battlefield forces. Rumsfeld is probably correct with regards to battle forces, but certainly incorrect for an occupation force - peacekeeping technology is essentially unchanged since WW II.

Having invaded Iraq, Rumsfeld and his allies have never really come to grips, first, with the necessity of an occupation (they never planned for an extended occupation, and it shows), and second, with the demands of an occupation (it needs to be adequately sustained). The U.S. forces are desperately undermanned and underequipped in Iraq, prepared as they are for hi-tech battle and not low-tech (but demanding) patrolling, but the Administration, and Rumsfeld in particular, pridefully refuse to admit it. Reservists' stays have been extended longer than promised. So, as a consquence, there aren't enough guards in the prison, leading to big gaps in oversight of the guards.

Then, of course, there is the anomalous example of Guantanamo. Many of the Al Qaeda prisoners are battle-hardened and thus could arguably merit different or harsher treatment, but there are many civilians among the Abu Ghraib prisoners, picked up in neighborhood sweeps, sometimes for carrying arms (many Iraqi civilians these days carry arms for self-protection). The situations are much different, but there is the constant temptation to Gitmo-ize Abu Ghraib and thereby make everything uniform. Plus, who knows exactly what Military Intelligence's orders were with respect to getting intelligence from Abu Ghraib? Hopefully, we'll find out soon! The overall effect is unquestioned, however: DISASTER!

In regards to Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma, and his remarks to the effect that he was outraged by the outrage over Abu Ghraib, I think he brought dishonor on the Republican Party, by belittling the moral outrage of the world. On the other hand, Senator Lindsay Graham from South Carolina has done a wonderful job at maintaining whatever honor is left in the Republican Party. Backed by his experience as a JAG, he can confidently assert that "if you are the good guy, you have to act like the good guy." Good for him! Graham gets it: Inhofe doesn't.

Conservatives are having trouble with Iraq partly because they tend to think in memes, pre-programmed bit of thought, employed particularly when confronted by opposition, or when trying to rally the faithful. You hear these little (what in isolation sound like rather meaningless) thought blobettes a lot on Rush Limbaugh's radio show. They are like an emotional code: like John "French" Kerry. Or how liberals are haters. Howard Dean, in particular, is a hater. Has Howard Dean ever expressed hatred? No, but according to the conservatives, he expresses nothing but hatred. He is incapable of any other emotion. Makes you wonder how anybody could stand him. Or when the Republican's Mark Racicot yammers on and on about how John Kerry is playing politics with people's lives in Iraq when he expresses even mild opposition to Bush's Iraq policy. Hello? How about George W. Bush is playing politics with people's lives in his speeches?

I suspect that the photos from Abu Ghraib are having a bigger impact in the U.S. than in the Arab world. Rumors from Abu Ghraib have been rife for a year, so the Arabs were somewhat prepared for the pictures. The U.S. public was not prepared at all, however. We've been spewing out an endless series of lies, which are entangling us in a web of deceit so thick it's affecting other matters as well (here's a good example). I also thought it strange that one of the initial reactions to Abu Ghraib was to assert that the sexual deviance was somehow un-American, when, in fact, it was simply translating 100% All-American porn into a new environment.

Whatever the differences between locales and exact situations, this war is having a very similar impact in the U.S. as the Vietnam War did. We're back in Vietnam land again. One major difference is that there's no conscription, but two weeks ago, I heard Rush Limbaugh sending up a trial balloon on his radio show, saying how a draft would be good for the country. Watch out! Come December, provided Bush gets re-elected, the draft talk will get serious! Then watch the campuses!

Also, since the Middle East is such a devious, conspiracy-prone place, we get the added schadenfreude of watching the back-stabbing too. Ahmad Chalabi has apparently betrayed his U.S. neoconservative backers in order to further his own interests. Possible absurdities may exist, like U.S. authorities paying prisoners off to deny having been beaten. Then, further scandals may be in wait too, that may lead right to the top.

May we live in interesting times!

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?