Walnut Creek


Mike Schmier schmoozes the crowd, with help from a friend.



Various protesters.


USS Hornet - August 30, 2003

Very pleasant shot - The Class of 2003 - Junior Varsity (32 out of 135 present)

Truth to Power


Marc Valdez delivers a letter of complaint (content on my gubernatorial web log) to a representative of Governor Gray Davis (according to Diana Foss, his name is Yanni), on the west steps of the California State Capitol, Sacramento, August 29, 2003. Also pictured, left to right, are recall candidates Lawrence Strauss (cut off), Leonard Padilla, and Chris Sproul. Photo by anti-recall candidate Diana Foss.

Meet and Greet

Today, roughly ten recall candidates met on the west steps of the State Capitol Building in Sacramento, to deliver letters of protest to Governor Gray Davis. This collaborative effort was spearheaded by recall candidate Lawrence Strauss, with help by recall candidates Cheryl Bly-Chester, Jon Zellhoefer, and Leonard Padilla. I'm a rather latecomer to these efforts to forge a common position on some issues amongst the recall candidates, since the efforts started while trying to come to a common agreement on how to approach the media, with respect to the Leno appearance on Sept. 22nd, and I had already decided not to attend that. But the idea of a common approach to matters we have in common still has appeal, and I'm glad to join - starting today, and tomorrow, with the USS Hornet meeting in Alameda.

These candidates are a fine group of people! Great, energetic people! Several other recall candidates were there too. I helped anti-recall candidate Chris Sproul arrange his interview with John Hancock over at the California Channel, across from the State Capitol. While there, I met recall candidate Chuck Pineda, who was just about to undergo John Hancock's grilling. Other candidates I met just briefly: Diana Foss and Patricia Tilley. And there may have been another candidate, but he was trying not to associate with us.

A great time, with more to come!

Mindless Entertainment

On Thursday, I went on a hurried journey to Mindless Entertainment Inc., located across the street from Paramount Studios in Hollywood, to audition for the Game Show Network's (GSN's) 'Who Wants to be Governor of California?', a debate among five pre-selected candidates, in a game-show format, to be filmed in late September and aired on Cable TV across the U.S. on October 1st. The interview went well - I hope very much that I'm picked. Not just because I want to win the $21,000+ campaign cash prize, but because I believe that GSN's approach actually represents THE major innovation of the campaign, perhaps a revolutionary development that can break the stranglehold Big Money has on campaigns nationwide.

What is it we miss most in American politics? Spirited political debate, the kind that thrived at saloons and debating clubs across America in the early 19th Century. Legendary debaters, like Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, the triumvirate that dominated the Great Compromise of 1850 Congressional debates, or Lincoln and Douglas, campaigning in the Illinois Congressional elections of 1858, were merely the tip of the iceberg of American rhetoricians.

After modern politics got its start, in the stump speeches of Bryan, and the Big Money approach of McKinley in 1896, the older art form steadily died. Throughout the 20th Century, newspapers, radio, and TV slowly strangled the art of political debate. Today, we have self-financed and pay-to-play campaigns, costing millions, run by people who couldn't argue their way out of a 19th Century saloon.

When you have an election with many candidates (like this recall campaign), however, it's possible to bring back the old art form, in a new guise. All you need is an ambitious media mogul and some money. First, you audition the candidates, and preselect the ones you want to compete. The competition can take any form. It can be a traditional debate, or it could be something else: a cookoff on a cooking channel, or a tournament on a golf channel, or perhaps a first date with a supermodel on a channel that focuses on relationships. The winner gets cash for their campaign, and then on to the next round of debates. The excellent free media exposure saves the candidates precious resources, the cash fuels the campaign, and the mogul exercises an indirect influence on politics. Cheaper than the current form of modern politics for the various candidates, the new approach strengthens candidates' rhetorical skills, and could well break the back of old-style campaigning. I want GSN's nod, just to see what I might be able to do with this new political toy. The future begins here, and it begins now! Farewell the old, stale, lesser-of-two-evils campaign (provided the old 2 candidate system can be dealt a death blow - that might be the hardest part).

After the interview, I had time to burn, so, following local custom, I energetically drove my rented car all around Hollywood. I visited a fabulous old bookstore on Melrose Ave., and wandered in-and-out of shops, up-and-down Melrose's wonderful youth-oriented shopping strip. What must it be like to go to high school at Fairfax or Hollywood High Schools, so close to all that glitters? If I was a teenage girl with shopaholic tendencies and a credit card, I'd probably go nuts. I drove past various interesting landmarks, like the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the Will and Ariel Durant branch of the LA Public Library, the Valdez Guitar Shop, the CNN Tower, KNX Radio (I should have stopped in), and a zillion restaurants, travel agencies, and tattoo parlors. And, of course, despite the bustle, very few pedestrians. The sidewalks were eerily quiet, even by lazy Sacramento standards:

Artist : Persons Missing
Song : Walking In LA
Lyrics Available at Let's Sing It

Look ahead as we fast try to focus on it
I won't be fooled by a cheap cinematic trick
It must have been just a cardboard cut out of a man
Top forty cast off from the record stand

Walking in LA
Walking in LA
Nobody walks in LA
Walking in LA
Walkin in LA
Nobody walks in LA

I don't know could have been a lame jogger maybe
or someone just about to do the freeway strangler baby
Shopping cart pusher or maybe someone groovy
One things for sure he isn't starrin in a movie coz he's

Walking in LA
Walking in LA
Nobody walks in LA
Walking in LA
Walkin in LA
Nobody walks in LA

You won't see a cop walkin on the beat
You only see him drivin cars on the street
You won't see a kid walkin home from school
Their mothers pick them up in a car pool

Walking in LA
Walking in LA
Nobody walks in LA
Walking in LA
Walkin in LA
Nobody walks in LA

Could it be the smog's playing tricks on my eyes
Or it's a rollerskater in some kind of headphone disguise
Maybe somebody who just ran out of gas
Makin his way back to the pumps the best way he can

Walking in LA
Walking in LA
Nobody walks in LA
Walking in LA
Walkin in LA
Nobody walks in LA

All the King's Men

Campbell first. Can Hoon be far behind?

Now Am I Just Confused?

I thought the 45-minute claim referred to Iraqi attacks on Britain, not in Iraq.

A Quick Trip to So. Cal Seems Like a Good Idea

To check this out.

A 5-Minute Video

Courtesy of Steven Whetstone productions comes a video of me talking about my platform. I focus mostly on Proposition 13, but talk about other things as well. Steve Whetstone will place video links to myself and other candidates at this Web Site.

Headlines

Some headlines are just - so underwhelming!

Credit Card Companies Making Money Off Late Fees

Sexual identity study yields few surprises

Fun link regarding Arnold

Arnold 'Cleans Haus'. And some interesting analysis regarding Cruz's various dilemmas.

Peter Pan's Last Weekend!

DMTC's youth workshop Cast 2 presented Peter Pan last weekend. A fine show, with many strong performances, particularly Rachel Fader as Captain Hook. Also, Hannah Trost did very well as Mrs. Darling, and also last weekend as Tiger Lily. Unfortunately, Cast 2's Peter Pan, Emily Jo Seminoff, caught laryngitis, so Cast 1's Peter Pan, Julia Spangler, had to do Sunday's show. On Saturday evening, Emily excelled with her rendition of 'Beautiful Lady' - she reminded me of Matt Dunn, who did Peter Pan for Tokyo Disneyland a few years ago.

OK, Who IS Yoko Ono Anyway?

Things are getting a little absurd in Britain these days....

Visitors from New York Goeth

Robert Corddry of NewYork-based Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' came over to the house with crew for an interview yesterday evening. Despite the threat of rain (in August???? in Sacramento???? it's that small upper level low parked off the CA coast, combined with SW monsoonal moisture, and what looks like a front along the Sierras), the backyard scenes went well.

The premise of the interview was: Marc Valdez - serious candidate for Governor, maybe just a bit wacky, but not wacky enough to be Governor of California without our help. Things went great, but it may be three weeks or so before the piece gets aired, since they are on the brink of their annual August vacation in New York. I hope to let you know when that happens....

On other fronts, I've noticed an upsurge of interest on my Web Log from New Mexico, after the Monday story in the Albuquerque Journal, and the Tuesday interview on KRQE TV.

Made a 1-minute radio ad for mammoth AM radio station KFI in Los Angeles. All the candidates have been offerred 1-minute slots for KFI's drive-time audiences. I also sent off a 5-minute tape (made with the help of friends) that hopefully will appear on obscure Cable TV channels in the LA area. And I'll be doing an interview on John Hancock's California Channel (a cable California governmental channel) on Monday morning.

And I declined the invitation to attend Jay Leno's Recall Candidate night, Monday September 22nd. I was annoyed by the nature of the invitation, and sensed all the recall candidates were being dissed a bit. Etiquette often revolves around small matters - trivial sometimes. My concern wasn't that my dignity was being violated as a politician, or even as a human being, but rather as a theater person. The Tonight Show violated standard, age-old theater etiquette with this invitation.

Since we are not guests in the standard sense, we can't take the stage. Fine. But we are to be seated in the studio audience. So does that mean we are members of the studio audience? No. We lose two rights that audience members have traditionally had - the right to decide when we attend, and the right of anonymity (a precious right of its own!) We are to be recognized 'as a group' (a form of honor which is usually done for technical crew and orchestra members, who must remain at their stations), yet we aren't seated as a group and we are not at stations. So what are we, exactly?

Almost all the other candidates who responded to my E-Mail complaints to the Tonight Show were dismissive, suggesting that I should view the invitation as a party invitation, and not whine so much. But we aren't party guests, because what are we celebrating, exactly? The recall? That party came and went with Arnold. Beats me what we are - an untouchable class? Circus freaks? Gladiators? I don't know! As far as I know, only myself and Ralph Hernandez from Contra Costa County, who felt we should all get stage time, are sulking.

I was chastised that I shouldn't moan and groan too much regarding an invitation, so I won't: but I won't attend either. I'll go another time, and enjoy the show as an anonymous audience member.

Many of the other candidates want to get together for alternative media events both before and after the Tonight Show event. That is a superb idea, and there's no reason why they can't mold this opportunity to suit their needs.

Visitors from New York Cometh

Jon Stewart's Daily Show will be here tomorrow! Or at least that's what the man on the phone said! It's too late - hyperefficient Persia has cleaned up the house to the point that it looks really strange - like a Smithsonian exhibit piece or something. She's so good - if she was put in charge of the State Capitol, she'd 'Clean Haus' so efficiently that it would be weeks before anyone could find the budget!

Dark Characters!

So Gilligan played a double game? Advantage Blair!

I Hate Surprises....

Don't You?

Mo Betterman

Funny guy - excellent host! Angela's triathalon fundraiser went swimmingly well tonight in Old Sacramento!

Sizing Up the Opposition - Mary Carey

On Thursday, I was at my health club, flipping through Sacramento News & Review, when I noticed that Mary Carey, the porn star candidate for California Governor, was going to be performing this week at Centerfolds, in Rancho Cordova, just outside Sacramento. I excitedly pointed this out to Tessie, my aerobics instructor, who grimaced and changed the subject (different tastes, I guess). Anyway, I figured that if Ariana Huffington and Peter Camejo can campaign together, Mary and myself could campaign together, on a beauty and brains platform (I tried to ignore the little voice in my head that said there was no incentive for her to join forces with me, and that my motives for even thinking about such an alliance were mixed, to say the least). Nevertheless, throwing caution to the winds, off I went, to catch the 11:30 p.m. Friday evening show at Centerfolds.

I paid the $19 cover charge (which covered all drinks) and entered the club. Many men, and a few women, sat at numerous tables scattered about two stages. Many pretty women strolled around in various, provocative states of undress. Some of the men seemed to be well known to the women, and were quickly dragged off to locations unknown. A pretty blonde waitress asked me what I wanted to drink, and I was surprised to learn the club is non-alcoholic. I got a Diet Coke and paid for it: since the drink was already paid for, she soon began buzzing around with replacement drinks every few minutes (my general, if limited, experience in these establishments is that if you tip liberally and indiscriminately, you will have a lot better time than if you try to be parsimonious).

Then the show started! Mary Carey came out in an orange jumpsuit, which was quickly doffed to reveal something much skimpier. Then she began dancing. Her dance was energetic enough, but was compromised by the slippery floor under her platform shoes, and the frequent stops to jam the faces of appreciative patrons between her ample breasts. When she lay down on her back and her legs traced opposing arcs to the floor, her platform shoes made distinctive clicking noises when they simultaneously touched down.

The announcer stated that the most enthusiastic fan shouting 'Mary Carey for Governor!' would get a free videotape of Mary Carey. Under most circumstances, I'd be that most enthusiastic patron, but given my own candidacy, I had a hopeless conflict of interest. Attention focused stage right, where a rather lackluster group of men tried to get her attention. Mary Carey indicated by semaphore that she wanted more enthusiasm, and started doing jumping jacks as a suggestion. One little guy in a white shirt starting doing jumping jacks with vigor, and to me it looked like the contest was over. But Mary Carey was not satisfied, and she indicated that she was going to fling the VHS tape into audience as if it were a garter at a wedding. She lost her grip with the first toss, and the tape landed flat on the stage. The second toss went better, but she brained three guys with the spinning tape before it finally came to a stop - the enthusiastic little guy lost out.

Then attention turned to a fellow named (appropriately enough) John, who was made to lie prostrate on stage, while Mary Carey used a rubber device and an unknown fluid to simulate several sex acts. About this time, I started talking to the pretty blonde waitress. I indicated that I was Mary Carey's rival - another candidate for governor. The waitress smiled and said she was for Schwarzenegger herself. I replied, rather defensively, "well, only if you're into that sort of guy." She asked if I was a politician, and I said no: science instead, specifically meteorology. Then she said: "I think this whole governor's race is a joke!" I started to argue with her, but given the new round of hooting and hollering stageside, I had to confess she had a point - I said, "well, it COULD be!"

I noticed several strange things about the club - it seemed to be violating an important rule of physics, namely the Conservation of Men and Women. Several times, parades of nubile women came down from the stage, and appeared to vanish into the house. I wondered if men were getting dragged off for lap dances, but there seemed to be just as many men in the seats as before, but still, the women were gone. I eventually concluded I just wasn't paying enough attention to understand what was going on in the house, distracted as I was by the action on stage, the pretty blonde waitress, the loud music, and my numerous Diet Cokes. The waitress let me know I could meet Mary Carey after her performance in the VIP lounge, but fearing the likelihood of making unintended contributions to the Mary Carey for Governor campaign, and the certainty that her unbelievably-large platform would overshadow my much-more-modest springboard, I demurred. So, I left without approaching the candidate, after spending only $25 in 35 minutes ($19 for the cover charge, and $6 for drinks - still, cheaper than a casino!)

Something about the experience suggests to me that Mary Carey is not a serious candidate for governor. Nevertheless, I look forward to her upcoming gubernatorial debate with mall security guard Gary Coleman on E!

Peter Pan This Weekend!

DMTC's youth workshop Cast 1 is presenting Peter Pan this weekend. Next weekend, Cast 2 performs. See both shows! Here is my favorite Peter Pan link. When my friend Carrie saw this she said:

"I do NOT believe. And I will not even go there about the green outfit."

Charlie of 666 - A Memoir of World War II

Finally finished this strong memoir of an artilleryman, Corporal Nathaniel Blumberg, in Charlie Battery, 666th Field Artillery Battalion. My father was in Baker Battery, so the memoir has a special place in my heart.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six (The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, Chapter 13:18).

Several points seemed to stand out in my mind:

1.) The pre-war experiences he described at Utah State University, Logan, seemed very remote from the distance of more than half a century. I found that puzzling, because I once worked a year at University of Utah, Salt Lake City, and I've visited the campus at Logan, so there should have been some familiarity of place, if nothing else, but it just didn't seem to be there. I can only conclude that pre-and post-war college experiences - for everyone - were of quite different natures: the war changed everything, of course. And also, probably even in his own mind, the Logan years probably seem dreamlike and distant, given the European experience.

2.) Blumberg's descriptions about the Battle of the Bulge helped clarify impressions I had received as a child listening to my father's stories. I had been under the impression, from childhood, that my father had actually been trapped behind enemy lines, in hostile country, for nearly a week, but apparently that wasn't the case. Blumberg and my father had been thrust near the forefront of battle, with confused territories of control causing great apprehension, but never completely cut off from American control.

3.) Reading Blumberg's book, I now understand why my father ended up in Salzburg, Austria. It always seemed rather irrational that my father ended up there, so far from Belgium (but then no one ever said the U.S. military was necessarily rational). He described the great beauty of the place, and an adventure trying to learn to ski (hmmm.... in summer 1945? - maybe THAT was the problem), that made him swear off the slopes for the rest of his life.

4.) It was interesting reading Blumberg's reactions (and the reactions of the other soldiers) to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Myself, I co-wrote a letter of complaint to the Smithsonian Museum in 1995, complaining of revisionist, ahistorical efforts to portray the atomic bombings as exercises in racism, etc.

5.) Blumberg's epilogue, which describes coming to terms with forgiveness for the German soldiers who were once his bitterest enemies, was very moving.

I remember, as an 8-year-old child in 1964, being crestfallen because I finally learned that, despite popular TV shows like 'Combat', the U.S. was no longer at war with Germany. I'm sure Blumberg was relieved, however, that the war ended considerably sooner than that.