Geoff's Two Bits

How Lazy Are Liberals?

2011-08-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

Last week, a flood of outside money blunted what could have been a historic exercise of democracy in Wisconsin. As it was, two GOP state senators were recalled, and that's a good thing. But we needed to get three to block the wholesale assault on worker rights that's going on there.

So, time to give up and go home? Whine about how we'll never be able to beat the billionaires?

Today, Texas governor Rick Perry announced his candidacy for President, and it was like déjà vu, all over again. Here was a smarmy Texas governor, spouting obvious platitudes and lies, knowing his billionaire backers would be running interference for him. Here's a direct quote from his speech today:

"We cannot afford four more years of this rudderless leadership. Last week, that leadership failed, and the tax and spend and borrow agenda of this President led to the first ever downgrade of the credit rating of the United States of America."

Now for those of you not scoring at home, the recent credit downgrade of the US Treasury from AAA to AA+ came from Standard and Poor's, who explicitly laid blame for the downgrade on the GOP, which can be read in their report [from page 4]:

"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."

I am not here to talk about the deficit, very few people are being honest about it anyway. I only bring up this example of a hired hand (Perry) willing to lie, knowing vast amounts of cash and power will protect him. In this post-Citizens United era, I guess it's game over, right? We should all just give up?

In case you hadn't noticed yet, the conservatives never give up. The Koch Brothers, and their father before them have been supporting right wing causes for decades. I believe the election of Barack Obama was a great event, but it also created the illusion that the battle was over. Obama had the ruby slippers, and all he needed to do was click them, and we'd all go home and be happy.

But, then came the 2010 elections. When Obama didn't give us the magic flying sparkle pony that farts glitter, we got bored. We didn't show up to vote, and the teabaggers took over Congress. Things were bad enough with the GOP minority in the Senate able to filibuster any meaningful legislation, now there would be none to block!

So, let's wrap this up. I think nothing is more important than the re-election of Obama, and the defeat of the teabaggers, and the hopeful return of Congress. So, the question is, is the game already over? Is it too late? Will the propaganda machine win?

I don't think it has to end that way.

Treason Enough?

2011-07-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

I know it's a harsh word, and perhaps a little too charged, but what is treason anyway?

Today, when the disappointing unemployment numbers came out, an interviewer asked of Michele Bachmann: “Does it strike you that as unemployment goes up, your chances of winning office also go up?” Bachmann responded by saying: “Well that could be. Again, I hope so.”

Perhaps treason is not the most accurate term for her acknowledgement that a bad economy will help her defeat Obama is 2012. Disloyal? Unpatriotic? What do you think this means?

Shared Sacrifice

2011-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

What a Dream I Had

Right now, the Democrats and the GOP have reached an impasse over how to solve the budget deficit. In short, the GOP wants all savings to come from budget cuts, and none from taxes. The Democrats are proposing about 17% of the savings to come from closing tax loopholes.

In past times, when this sort of thing has happened, compromises were reached, with roughly half of the savings coming from cuts and half from taxes. But we are living in an age where compromise is a dirty word, and we need to find some middle ground.

What I'm trying to do is simply start a 'meme' here. The politicians are waiting for the public to provide enough support to push the negotiations in one direction or another. I believe that the Democrats (worst poker players ever!) are asking for too little, and we need to return to the classic 50-50 compromise.

How is this supposed to work?
I have no experience with politics or grassroots movements. I've started a simple one-issue facebook page where all you have to do is click on the 'like' button. I'm hoping that you will also click on the little facebook 'f' that's just below the title of this blog post. If for some reason this resonates with enough people, we'll take the next step and share this info with the politicians. I'm hoping some of you are better at this than I am, and have some good advice too!

Maybe this is a crazy idea, maybe not. Either way, I don't expect this situation to last for long. What do you think?

Hostage Negotiations

2011-06-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Negotiating With Terrorists

How does one negotiate with the GOP on the budget? Using the analogy of the satyrical magazine cover to the left, (apologies to animal lovers, it's a joke!) the basic GOP position is:

If you don't shoot the dog, we'll shoot the dog!

If that seems hard to make sense out of, I think the basic idea is that if the Democrats don't go along with dismantling the government, the GOP will allow the budget default to happen, further weakening the government, hurting the economy, and hopefully, ensuring Obama loses in 2012!

It's a great plan, right?

None Dare Call it Treason

2011-06-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Will They Get Away With This?

Something that has seemed obvious to me for quite a while is finally being publicly acknowledged by some Democrats. Yesterday, Democratic senators finally called out the GOP for being willing to hurt the economy, so that Obama will not be re-elected. Today, Majority leader Eric Cantor dropped out of the budget talks until Democrats stop asking that billionaires pay their fair share of the taxes. Purely and simply, it would seem the GOP is willing to let the economy collapse to insure that 2012 goes their way.

I think this is treasonous, and the GOP is essentially working for multinational corporate interests, and they don't care about this country. There, I've said it. If you agree, don't be quiet about this.

The line it is drawn

2011-05-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Harry Reid after vote.

The curse it is cast.

Today, before the Republicans in the Senate had a chance to wise up, Harry Reid held a vote on radical GOP congressman Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which includes the notorious plan to end Medicare as we know it. While the bill was solidly defeated 57-40, if it were to be held a week from now, there would be even fewer Republican senators willing to take a stand.

After last night's historic special election in New York's 26th Congressional district, Reid quickly pushed to get GOP senators on record as supporting the GOP budget. Now, if the Democrats have the resolve to stick to the message (even though they have a tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory), they can spend the next year and a half reminding voters that Senator so-and-so voted to end Medicare. There are only 10 GOP senators up for re-election in 2012, compared to 23 Democrats, so it would be a stretch to think the Republicans can be reduced to sub-filibuster levels, but in this era of unlimited anonymous election spending by right-wing billionaires, the Democrats need all the help they can get.

Speaking of Medicare, Bob Dylan turned 70 yesterday!

Passing on Wisdom

2011-02-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

Biting My Tongue
Today I went to the California Academy of Sciences since I have the week off, and just before I left, after having a nice, overpriced lunch in their killer cafeteria, I went to visit the Foucault pendulum. I had just done a small pendulum lab in my physics class, and felt like just closing the circle, so to speak.

Not to be too technical, but what this pendulum proved, over 150 years ago, was that the earth truly was spinning on its axis in space. The swinging ball would stay pointed toward some spot in space while the earth turned beneath it. There's a sign on the side saying essentially just that.

So, there I am, kind of mesmerized, thinking of how I used to watch this same ball as kid, when some dad starts explaining it to a group of kids. He talks about how some motor swings it back and forth, and how the earth's magnetic field makes the ball move in a circle!

I wanted to tell him he was wrong, that he was misinforming the kids, but I didn't. I can be a real know-it-all jerk in situations like that, and just sort of suffered silently as he led his little group on to who-knows-what. It's a good thing that parents bring kids to a science museum, right? I'm not really sure what to say here, but I'm sure we've all passed along some sort of misinformation to the younger generation. I know I have. Still, I wish those kids could know just how cool this spinning ball was!

Is Your Hair On Fire Yet?

2010-12-19T09:28:00.000-08:00

Keith Olbermann

Does Tax Law Make You Crazy?
I've lost track of exactly what day it happened. All the days seem to be running together since Obama 'caved in' to Yertle the Turtle Mitch McConnell. Although, depending on who you talk to, I might be referring to the day Obama hoodwinked Mitch McConnell into going along with some more government stimulus. I guess it depends on whose analysis you believe the most.

Now, given my lazy druthers, I might spend every workday evening in front of the TV, watching MSNBC between the hours of 5 and 8 PM. I have even been known to watch Chris Matthews if I come home early. Now, I really don't do this every night, it even gets to me after a while, but I do have a lot of respect for the opinions of Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell.

During the fifteen minutes or so that I travel to work in the morning, I listen to Stephanie Miller on Green960, and listen to Randi Rhodes (if I get out early enough) or Karel on the way home.

So, let's go back to the day we found out Obama and McConnell had negotiated a deal to give the Republicans their cherished Bush-era tax cuts for the rich folk for another couple of years, and some ruling class props to rich families to evade more estate taxes, in return for an extension for unemployment benefits, and some investments in small business and green energy. To be honest, it's not easy for us ordinary folk to figure this stuff out, so we turn to people we trust to help sort things out. So, let's see, how do my political gurus feel about this?

Keith Olbermann says Obama is 'Goddamned wrong' and betrayed his base.

Rachel Maddow thinks Obama completely sold out, and looks somewhat pitiful in the whole affair.

Lawrence O'Donnell thinks Obama got the best part of the deal.

Randi Rhodes, on the other hand says we should relax. There's more bucks for stimulus than sops to the rich, so Obama got a better deal. Stephanie Miller also thinks Obama did the only thing he could, and Karel is 'done with Obama.'

Not a very unified picture, is it?

When the news broke, I was angry too, and emailed Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who I had heard was going to filibuster the bill. Bernie spoke for almost 9 hours about the evils of the bill, and I agreed with most of what he said. But then strange things started to happen on the right wing...

Charles Krauthammer, the right wing nutjob pretender to the William F Buckley throne of self-important pundits, wrote an article about how Obama swindled the Republicans, and the Democrats didn't even know it! Then Rush Limbaugh, the drug-addled Jabba the leader of the GOP tells us that he hopes Obama's tax deal fails! Pretty much the same words he uttered two years ago that defined the party of HELL NO YOU CAN'T! And finally, to put the nail in the coffin, if you think you can read Sarah Palin's tweets it would also seem she's against the deal!

Many of my friends on facebook have passionately posted their disgust for Obama selling out, so it's a real mixed bag of feelings out there.

Politics is a very complex, convoluted form of energy transfer. I think that it probably was the best deal that could have been made, given these circumstances, and who Obama was dealing with. The GOP was perfectly willing to let taxes go up for all Americans, and let the unemployed sink deeper into poverty, so there was no incentive on their part to 'play nice.' I think the lure of getting these totally unnecessary, totally hypocritical (from a deficit POV) tax cuts was irresistible to McConnell. In return, Obama saved a lot of Americans (the hostages) a lot of pain, and got more stimulus money too. This is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. If we're still at this rate of unemployment in two years, there is little hope for Obama, save the possible candidacy of Palin.

Could this deal have paved the way for the historic repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell we witnessed yesterday? Hard to prove either way.

So here's the deal: We have 2 years

to take back Congress
to mount some creditable media pushback to the FauxNews propaganda machine
to halt the flood of anonymous political money
to get this country's economy back on track

Otherwise, these tax giveaways for the rich will never expire, and you can kiss America, as we think we knew it, goodbye.

Is your hair on fire yet?

Obamapology, Take 2

2010-12-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Government We Deserve
Step away from the ledge!

By now, I'm sure you have all heard about how Obama 'caved in' to the GOP, or broke his campaign promise, or whatever. Personally, I'm really unhappy about it too. I'm willing to have my taxes go up if it means the rich people's taxes go up too. All this talk about deficits has been exposed for what it is, just talk. Just another excuse to bash Obama and the Democrats, and another opportunity for the powerful to raid the treasury. But...read and listen to these words spoken today by Obama:

"This isn’t an abstract debate...This is real money for real people and it will make a real difference in the lives of the folks who sent us here."

The ugly irony in the tax situation is that percentage-wise, the people on the bottom would suffer the most in a tax increase. And it was not an idle threat by the GOP; they would be perfectly happy to let millions of folks lose unemployment benefits, and sink further out of sight. This was blackmail, pure and simple.

While I don't believe in caving in to blackmail, I'm not sure Obama had much choice. I guess what I'd like to see is a concerted effort to make the GOP pay for this politically, but in the age of limitless anonymous corporate donations via shadowy Super-PAC's, it's hard to see that happening either.

What do you want Obama to do? I think many people voted for him as if he were the second coming, and we would no longer need to do any more hard work. All our utopian dreams would become reality.

As long as Americans can be bamboozled into electing Republicans, even if it means harming Americans, we will get treated this way over and over again.

What say you?

Webcor Dreams

2010-11-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

an old Webcor, not the same as my folks'

Electronic Memories
Where have all the gray cells gone?

Tonight after band practice and dinner, I stumbled across the John Sebastian Folk Rewind special, and got sucked in. Lots of old black and white recordings of ancient TV shows. Earnest young men and women singing old songs. Perhaps the most telling moment for me was when The New Christy Minstrels sang Today. It's a totally sappy song, but still, the wistful emotions of passing time hit me hard. I thought back to the days when I used to listen with my family to reel-to-reel tapes of old folk songs. Songs like "Tom Dooley," "500 Miles," and "The Streets of Laredo."

These tapes are long gone, and even if they weren't, it would be hard to find many people interested in listening to them. My dad has been gone for 15 years, and my mom's not doing very well, and it's memories like this that remind me of a time when they were younger, younger than I am now.

So, I'll continue to play "Get Together" every chance I get, "Blowin' In The Wind" every now and then, and maybe even "If I Had a Hammer." Someone else can get nostalgic over Lady Gaga someday.

PS, for those of you in Bay Area, here's the link for repeats of the Sebastian Show.

Open Letter to President Obama

2010-11-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

Dear President Obama,
Let me say this simply and directly. Please protect the American people these next two years. The Republicans are coming for us. They have already bought themselves the Congress, and the Senate and Presidency cannot be far behind.

Please stop compromising with the GOP, they have no intention of meeting you anywhere near the middle. You will be under constant attack from their media, but you need to be strong for us.

If we don't get our act together in the next couple of years to take Congress back, then I guess we don't deserve saving!

If you need to veto, then veto. They will call you names, and try and destroy you. But remember, you are protecting us. This is what we need the President for.

And please, don't let them defund the Secret Service!

Yours in Justice,
Geoff Gould
high school science teacher

Wake Up Democrats!

2010-09-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know the primaries are done, but sooner or later you're going to get around to paying more attention, right? Well, the press has written you off, so you might as well not bother. If the media says you're not going to vote, who are you to prove them wrong?

But just in case you need a little focusing, check this out:

Age of Supreme Court Justices

Roberts, 55
Scalia, 74
Kennedy, 74
Thomas, 62
Ginsburg, 77
Breyer, 72
Alito, 60
Sotomayor, 56
Kagan, 50

If you ever want to see your civil rights again, you'd better make sure that:

There's a Democrat in office as President
There's at least 60 Democratic senators to confirm any nominations

I'm trying to keep this as short and sweet (sweet?) as possible, so if you thought your work was done electing Obama a couple of years ago, think again. With the unrestricted onslaught of corporate cash flooding the democratic process, it's even harder now than a couple of years ago to keep our freedoms, you know those freedoms that are free? The ones that we're supposed to enjoy, even if we don't have a lot of money?

How about a little more Golden Rule, and a little less rule of gold?
[idea for using poster from Lark Leet]

The Myth of Private Enterprise

2010-06-14T17:07:00.001-07:00

What? You want to eat at MY lunch counter?

Recently, Rand Paul, the son of Libertarian Ron Paul, won the Republican primary for Senate in Kentucky. Being a Tea Party darling, this was trumpeted as a significant event. In his acceptance speech, he said "We've come to take our government back." What does he mean? Who is the 'we' in this?

I'm sorry, but quite simply I think this is code for "We've come to take our country back from these non-white people."

But here's why I'm writing this piece. Rachel Maddow interviewed him after his victory, and tried repeatedly to ask him if he supported the rights of business owners to discriminate based on race. Over and over again, Rand said it was right to bar discrimination by the government, but skirted the issue of directly answering her questions. For some reason, Libertarians seem to think Freedom (yes Freedom with a capital 'F') is at risk if you tell an individual businessman he can't discriminate in his own place of business!

Here's the rub: This is all based on some sophomoric view of what constitutes 'private enterprise.' It's kind of like the old phrase "a man's home is his castle." Whatever goes on inside a private business is beyond the reach of law, beyond the dictates of society. I think on one level that sounds reasonable. After all, who doesn't like freedom? Who likes being told what to do? I know I don't like it when I'm told what to do, even it it makes sense!

But really, how can business ever be truly private? By its very nature it involves the interrelationship between people and the support of the common infrastructure. How can you run a business without the support of public safety, banking, utilities, and so on. The very fabric of public society is the lifeblood of any 'private enterprise.'

To equate the sanctity of the First Amendment with the right to bar people from your 'private business' is silly at best, and sociopathic at least.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Race Against Time

2010-04-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

The line it is drawn The curse it is cast
With the election of Barack Obama, a major battle has been set up. Obama's victory was never accepted by the corporate forces who have done such a great job of locking up the game that is called The United States. Rather than wait for the mandate to be given a chance, the strategy has been to simply stall and obstruct. The U. S. Treasury was so heavily looted, there's very little money, if any, left for creative social justice programs, which suits the right just fine. The GOP's seditious strategy cares not for the general welfare of the country (or the world for that matter), but only serves at the pleasure of moneyed interests. The demons of racism, sexism, and xenophobia have all been unleashed in support of the attacks on the new Federal government. FauxNews' Glenn Beck and his ilk continually stir up these forces, in a thinly veiled hope that some wacko will take Obama out of the picture.

What is happening is a race between the country becoming aware of the good works of Obama's plans, and the heavy indoctrination/disinformation program of the right wing. Normally, this would have been hard enough, but with the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow corporations unlimited 'free speech,' the stakes have gotten higher.

The Bizarro World of California Voter Democracy - 1984-style
California's initiative process has been flawed for years, with corporations able to hire professional signature gatherers for self-serving propositions. But it seems as if the 'gloves are off' now. I have noticed a few propositions that seem particularly obvious examples of corporate self-interest:

Prop 16 "Taxpayers Right to Vote"
Perhaps you've seen the ad on TV, telling you how this will give taxpayers the right to approve any public involvement in power generation. Watch closely, in the middle of the ad, the voice0ver says it "requires voter approval" while on screen the truth is highlighted; it would require 2/3 majority to approve any such move. Anyone familiar with the budget process in California since the 2/3 majority has been needed to pass a budget knows this is just a big roadblock. The only funding for this awful proposition comes from PG&E. Surprised? Somehow we are supposed to forget the whole concept of representative government. We elected people to do that job, but for some reason, we are expected to micromanage everything with a ballot proposition? We have a right to vote, we elect representatives. Why can't they do their jobs without the corporations always stepping in and paying for so-called 'voter initiatives' to get their way?

Prop 17 The Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act
The Good Side: Motorists can get 'continuous coverage discounts' even when they switch from one insurance company to another.
The Bad Side: If for some reason, a motorist lets coverage lapse, then the next time they need insurance, no discount. This would not just be for people who didn't pay their bills. What about someone who sold their car because they didn't need it? Why should they be penalized?
Who's paying for this 'voter initiative?': The primary sponsor of Prop 17 is Mercury Insurance. Surprised?

So, in the whole health care reform process, we found that lots of congressmen and senators were basically on the take from corporate interests. And on a certain level, who can blame them? They can't get re-elected without financial support. So, even though the majority of the American people wanted relief from the onerous mess that is our current health care system, we hear all about 'socialism' and 'government takeover,' 'death panels,' and blah blah blah. Now we're hearing about how the GOP will win a lot of seats back in congress. What sort of disconnect is that?

The race against time that I'm referring to is trying to hold on to the effort to clean up our power structures before they become totally corrupted. George W. Bush has already appointed relatively young Supreme Court justices who will tow the corporate line; they won't be replaced for another 20 years! We need leaders like Obama to stay in power long enough to turn this rotten ship around.

Keep your eyes on the prize, and don't be distracted by flashy baubles!

Tyree and Geoff discussing politics!

Just How Crazy Is It?

2010-02-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

Should We Arm Bears?

Just to show you how out of touch I am with what I am told are ordinary patriotic Americans, I wanted to spend a little of my blog space to comment on the current "Open Carry" movement.

Lately these people have been wandering into coffee shops, with permitted holstered weapons, as they order their mochas.

Yeah, I guess it's legal, but when I see someone with a gun in the open, even a cop who's there to protect the public, I get a little nervous. I get very nervous when I see right-wingers showing up at public demonstrations packing heat.

This summer, some nutcases famously displayed their weapons very near an event that Obama was at. If you go to the open carry website, they actually point to that as an example of how twisted the gun-control crowd is!:

"The anti-gun rights lobby's furor over the presence of guns
near the president . . . is an attempt to somehow reverse the normalization of guns."
Professor Brandon Denning, Cumberland School of Law (Birmingham, AL),
Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2009

I don't have much more to say, but I don't want to hang out in a coffee shop where some insecure, overcompensating dude is showing off his new Glock!

The Search for Reality

2010-02-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

I think many of us are battle-weary about the health care debate. I would guess this is partly due to our modern lack of an attention span, but it has also been the result of a deliberate stalling strategy that defies reason and believability, and yet it continues to work. I never realized before this last year how incredibly broken our American system of health insurance was, at least for most of us. You might notice I didn't use the term health care, as the care itself is way down on the list of priorities. It's not that the insurance companies are evil just for evil's sake; after all, it's "just business."

It's only logical that a business must do whatever it can to make a profit. That is the nature of business, and the law of survival. So, of course a for-profit insurance model would use the following tactics to maximize a high rate of return:

Deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Drop coverage as soon as possible for people that need to actually use it.
Raise rates as much as possible.
Especially if you can manipulate a non-competitive environment.

This is simply what you would expect in a system designed to protect the concept of profit in a world where health is needed.

And this is simply what the fight is all about. All the talk about cost containment, 'government-run' healthcare, 'death panels,' and fraud is just a smoke screen. It is purely and simply a struggle to maintain a system unlike any other developed country.

The fact that we treat health care as a sacrosanct source of profit, instead of a human right is the problem. Don't be distracted away from that. Just try to imagine what kind of world it would be like if your local fire department was run like a for-profit health insurance company: Your house is on fire, but if you can't pay COD, too bad for you.

There are so many lies around, I made an effort to find just a couple of facts I could confirm at the source. I didn't want to quote some political web site. I think if you can hang on to just these two things, it would put the issues in perspective.
First, let's put the magnitude of the crisis in perspective.

The world was aghast when 3,000 people were killed on 9/11. Over 5300 Americans service men and women have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since they began, to say nothing of the civilian casualties.

OK, have we all absorbed that? Well here's something I think we should never forget:

Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance

Maybe you've heard this before, but perhaps it just fades into all the other screaming about the issues of the day. This is not something the Huffington Post invented. This was a study conducted by the Harvard Medical School.

Here is a link to the Harvard site

Don't let anyone tell you this is a made-up number.
45,000 people a year.
Is that enough to notice?

Let's move on to the money.

Putting aside the obvious morality of just declaring access to health care a right, let's quit talking about how we can't afford it.

I've just got three words to say:

Bush Tax Cuts!

According to an article I found written in September 2004 from the Brookings Institute, well before Obama entered the race. At that point in time, there were "$1.7 trillion of revenue losses already locked into law."

There has basically been a campaign to cast modern progressive taxation as "Socialism.' And you thought Joe McCarthy was dead!

We are letting people die just so rich people can get a couple of extra percentage points off their income tax.

For Shame.

In closing, I'd like to quote a few lines about our health care system from an article on the PBS Frontline web site about how different countries finance their health care systems. I recommend reading the short article about the 4 basic models different countries use.

These four models should be fairly easy for Americans to understand because we have elements of all of them in our fragmented national health care apparatus. When it comes to treating veterans, we're Britain or Cuba. For Americans over the age of 65 on Medicare, we're Canada. For working Americans who get insurance on the job, we're Germany.

For the 15 percent of the population who have no health insurance, the United States is Cambodia or Burkina Faso or rural India, with access to a doctor available if you can pay the bill out-of-pocket at the time of treatment or if you're sick enough to be admitted to the emergency ward at the public hospital.

The United States is unlike every other country because it maintains so many separate systems for separate classes of people. All the other countries have settled on one model for everybody. This is much simpler than the U.S. system; it's fairer and cheaper, too.

Review: Avatar

2010-02-07T15:17:00.001-08:00

What a Trip!

If there are any of you left who haven't seen Avatar yet, let me just offer a few words of advice:

Yes, get a ticket and see it.
You should see it in 3D
You should prepare a bit first

Why see it?

It may not be the most thrilling plot you've ever encountered in a movie theater, but this is the reason you go to movie theaters, and not 'just wait for the DVD.' I have heard the plot described as Dances With Wolves with blue people. I never saw that movie, but I get the joke. I tend to watch Star Trek TNG reruns every weeknight at 10 for the same reason; good film or video should take you some place. Avatar definitely takes you to another place. It is money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

Why see it in 3D?

I haven't seen it in 2D, and I'm sure it's still pretty cool, but the total immersion experience of 3D just really puts this experience over the edge. These aren't just cheesy effects either.

Prepare? To see a movie?

I didn't know much about the movie outside of the basic plot. I usually like to see a movie before it gets ruined by modern day teasers and trailers which seem to spoil all the good parts! I'm not saying you need to attend a language class to speak the Na'vi language, but I would at least recommend you see the trailer that has been produced which includes background material. The main Apple trailer page for Avatar is a good place to start. I wish I had seen the trailer listed as "Experience the World of Pandora" before I'd seen the movie. The 'Featurette' is a short primer on Pandora, and some basic facts about the world you'll be spending over two hours inhabiting!

One More Thing

Go to the bathroom before the movie! At 162 minutes, try not to buy the big soda before you go inside!

Obamapologist?

2009-12-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

A Science Nerd's Analogy
Back in 1909, Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Ernest Rutherford at the Physical Laboratories of the University of Manchester, performed an historic experiment. In an effort to deduce what the inside of an atom 'looked like,' they fired small helium nuclei, alpha particles, at a thin layer of gold foil. Up until this point, it was thought that the atom had a similar structure to plum pudding. Negatively charged electrons were suspended in a positively charged matrix, and it was expected that the alpha particles would just zip through the atom, like a bullet through a cake.

But things didn't turn out this way.

What happened was that most of the particles did indeed travel right through, as if nothing was there. But...a few of the particles were deflected at an angle, and some of them simply bounced back, as if bouncing off a brick wall!

This is not the place for another of my boring science lectures, but I'm simply trying to illustrate how we do our best to infer what the hidden looks like, even if we can't see it. Which leads me to one way to look at Obama's recent decisions on the prosecution of the war in Afghanistan. I am reticent to do this, knowing I might be on the wrong side of an issue many of my friends I respect feel deeply about. But, since I've never been that smart about keeping my mouth shut, I'm going to try and explain why I continue to support Obama, and give him the benefit of the doubt, even as so many on the left despair.

Many people have a general distrust of all politicians, and for some valid reasons. Congress members and Senators cannot expect to get re-elected to continue doing the 'people's work' unless they get up every morning and raise tens of thousands of dollars in re-election funds. All that money probably doesn't come with unconditional love. As we've seen lately in the health care debate, the GOP is essentially a wholly-owned subsidiary of trans-national corporations, and many Democrats are in pretty deep too. How else do you explain the public's support for a public option, while at the same time the Senate seems so willing to kill it? Most of them are bought and sold, that much seems true. But without meaningful campaign finance reform, how likely are any significant changes? I'm totally opposed to term limits, as all that does is weaken the public's representatives compared to the lobbyists, who never get termed out, and just get stronger and stronger.

I've also heard lots of people complain about plumbers, and how much money they make. Do you really want to hire a gardener to fix your broken toilet? In San Francisco, we elected a mayor, Frank Jordan, whose shtick was that he wasn't a politician, and that's exactly what we got. A politician that knew nothing about the plumbing of the political machinery, and we had to live through it. If you lived in California the last 40 years, you had to live through 16 years of Ronald Reagan, whose charm was also being cast outside of the normal politician mold, first as Governor, then as President. What a national tragedy.

So it turns out Obama is a politician. What a surprise. Anyone who thinks they can just drop into the job of President, and instantly turn the ship of state on a dime will be disappointed. The entrenched power interests who fight Obama at every turn are venal and corrupt beyond belief. Out here in commie-pinko San Francisco, we don't live around such cretins as Senator James "no such thing as global warming" Inhofe, and all those other cult members of "The Family" who live in the house on C Street.

The euphoria over Obama's election was short-lived, once it became apparent that the right wingers would not roll over, and would fight tooth and nail, and lie, anything to blunt Obama's pull with the American people. Even with 60 Senators, every piece of legislation is WWIII.

So, what's the deal with Afghanistan? There's only supposed to be about 100 al-Qaeda in that fractured country. The Karzai government is corrupt, and the civilians there don't seem to appreciate having Predators drop bombs on them. We need 30,000 more troops for that?

So, what does this have to do with alpha particles?

Today, Obama gave a speech in acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. In many ways, he sounded themes George W. Bush might have mined, but did it in a real, complex way:

I face the world as it is

This is reality. I think what's hidden is what's in Pakistan. Pakistan has nukes. Pakistan has al-Qaeda, probably bin Laden too. The government of Pakistan is anything but stable, and will not officially allow US troops to press al-Qaeda there. Currently the CIA, with those mercenary contractors, is in charge of what goes on in Pakistan, but now it seems like the Air Force is also involved. The real story is in Pakistan, but it cannot be viewed or acknowledged directly.

Obama is straddling the dangers of the world, with the quest for peace. Most politicians give us an either/or fantasy. This is hard.

For the moment, I'm still thinking Obama is playing chess, while the rest of us are playing checkers. But I'm still proud that an American President shares these kind of words with the world:

Let us reach for the world that ought to be -- that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.

Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he's outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

Review: Pirate Radio

2009-11-22T22:27:00.001-08:00

Pirate Radio (US)
The Boat That Rocked (UK)
Good Morning England (France)
Radio Rock Revolution (Germany)
<--Phillip Seymour Hoffman as "The Count"

It's Only Rock and Roll, but I liked it!

I'll be brief; I liked the movie. I'm glad I went to a theater to see it, and I would recommend it to people who remember what it was like, when listening to the radio late at night held some sort of magical power.

This film will not win any Oscars, nor should it. It is filled with technical inaccuracies, and at times is clichéd and predictable. I personally do not believe that it will ever be possible for people to be 'transported' or 'beamed' from place to place, but I still enjoy watching Star Trek.

What is true is that at the height of the 'British Invasion,' the BBC barely allowed any broadcast of rock 'n' roll. It is this spirit of liberation that infuses the music, and the experience of watching the movie in a theater with other fans of rock.

This is not a movie for cynics; save your money and don't go!

Bushel of Lies

2009-08-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Where to Begin?

Lately, the whole effort to reform America's health care system has exposed a corrupting power structure whose size has been hidden from most of us. The magnitude of the power and money involved in propping up the status quo for the insurance companies, big pharmaceutical firms, and the for-profit hospital systems has been revealed to be as massive as any industry there is. The talking points have been distributed, and people are parroting the propaganda from sea to shining sea. (Quick, put Z on your Netflix list of movies to watch!)

I have received emails from people I know, with outrageous lies. How is it that ordinarily good people have taken the bait so easily? Are we that easy to manipulate with racist ideas, fears of immigrants, and general socialist bogeymen? Can our synapses be so easily accessed with massive advertising slogans? It's 2009 for pete's sake! Why is this happening?

Today, in "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire, a gun-toting protester stood outside a town hall appearance by Obama, standing with permission on church property. This is nuts!

Here is a list of some of the most frequent lies that you will hear over and over (so it must be true!), which are all easily refuted. But does that stop people?

President Obama wants to euthanize your grandma!!!
Democrats are going to outlaw private insurance and force you into a government plan!!!
President Obama wants to implement Soviet-style rationing!!!
Obama is secretly plotting to cut senior citizens' Medicare benefits!!!
Obama's health care plan will bankrupt America!!!

I know many of you work or have worked in the healthcare arena, so I'd like to hear from you. In the words of Rachel Maddow: Talk Me Down! Tell me I'm hallucinating. Tell me a rational reason we cannot join the rest of the developed world in how our citizens access healthcare.

Here is the video I was telling you about. I'll bet you can't stomach the whole thing! I practically hit the "I can't take it anymore" wall around one minute into it. When you Google this ad, there's very little info about who's behind it, just a lot of right-wing websites telling you how cool it is!

Inconvenient Science

2009-07-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

The Request Line is Open!
Yesterday I went to the Exploratorium to visit some old friends and check out some teaching resources, and posted in my FaceBook status "getting ready to go to Exploratorium." Tyree asked that I report about this in my next blog post!

Now, one one hand, my trip itself was not really newsworthy, outside of some weird pictures I took of myself in the new exhibit. But on the other hand, my blog doesn't have that many readers, and who am I to ignore such a request! Perhaps I can weave something about the Exploratorium's approach to science with something that's really concerned me lately.

The Exploratorium is the original 'hands-on' science museum for the general public. No longer just the province of nerds and geeks (not that there's anything wrong with nerds and geeks!) The Exploratorium is just downright fun, and if you're not careful, educational too! And if you've ever visited, and wondered what was going on in those classrooms in the middle of the building, the museum also runs a Teacher Institute to help with the professional development of science teachers. Their goal is to support teachers in their first years, when most teachers quit. I went through a two-year induction program with them, and found it very important to my survival, as well as making good friends that are going through the same struggles I am.

What the Exploratorium represents to me is the intersection between high science and personal experience. Many exhibits may just appear to be fun optical illusions, but if you want to know, there is much deeper science involved. You can just enjoy the beauty of the rainbow streaming into the building through the diffraction gratings installed on the roof, and if you want, you can dig deeper, to the 'why' of it all. If you haven't been there in a while, check it out again; new exhibits are built all the time.

This brings me to something that has been on my mind lately, and focused by and a recent survey published in the New York Times. There seems to be a large disconnect between what the public believes, and what scientists believe, even as far as what the public believes the scientists believe! More specifically:

...while almost all of the scientists surveyed accept that human beings evolved by natural processes and that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming, general public is far less sure.

Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change, and 11 percent does not believe there is any warming at all.

According to the survey, about a third of Americans think there is lively scientific debate on both topics; in fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution and there is little doubt that human activity is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that threaten global climate.

Plainly put, there is no actual debate among scientists about evolution or global warming, yet one can frequently find references to such a debate.

What seems to be going on here is a large denial on the part of the public about science, and I wonder why this is. I would really like to get your two bits on this.

I tend to believe that those who try to control society favor a populace that is as scientifically-illiterate as possible. That makes it easier to control people, since you don't have to be logical.

There is another train of thought that says people themselves avoid freedom, and choose to be scientifically illiterate for that very reason. They don't need any deep conspiracy to believe in superstitions.

I would really be interested to hear from you as to why this disconnect exists. What other factors might be at play here? Religion? Schools? Social customs?

Wedding Reflections and Flashbacks

2009-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's All a Dream We Dreamed One Afternoon, Long Ago

Since our daughter Grace's wedding, people ask me how it feels. I don't quite know what to say. Certainly Grace and Peter have been together for years, so there's no change in location. Mainly I felt swept up in the moment, and felt very blessed to be alive, and dancing (somewhat clumsily) at my daughter's wedding. There were regrets that our parents (both dads gone, and our moms not well enough to attend) couldn't be there, but the heavens smiled, the weather was perfect, and who can beat redwood trees for a natural setting?

I have been thinking about our own wedding, at the Los Gatos History Club on the Winter Solstice of 1975, and just looked at our photo album for the first time in years. The colors are fading a bit from the prints, and there are many faces in the pictures no longer with us. In the picture above (we were playing "Attics of My Life") David and Chris (3rd and 5th from the left) left us way too young.

Not to make too fine a point of it, this is indeed a passage, even if there are no major changes on either side of the time demarcation.

I'm very happy for my daughter and her new husband
This has caused me to reflect on our own wedding
Which led to the picture book
Who are all those young people in the pictures?

And now for the T. S. Eliot I didn't quote at the wedding:

I sometimes wonder if that is what Krishna meant—
Among other things—or one way of putting the same thing:
That the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray
Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret,
Pressed between yellow leaves of a book that has never been opened.
And the way up is the way down, the way forward is the way back.
You cannot face it steadily, but this thing is sure,
That time is no healer: the patient is no longer here.
When the train starts, and the passengers are settled
To fruit, periodicals and business letters
(And those who saw them off have left the platform)
Their faces relax from grief into relief,
To the sleepy rhythm of a hundred hours.
Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Or who will arrive at any terminus,
While the narrowing rails slide together behind you;
And on the deck of the drumming liner
Watching the furrow that widens behind you,
You shall not think 'the past is finished'
Or 'the future is before us'.
At nightfall, in the rigging and the aerial,
Is a voice descanting (though not to the ear,
The murmuring shell of time, and not in any language)
'Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging;
You are not those who saw the harbour
Receding, or those who will disembark.
Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.

Father's Day Reflection

2009-06-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Dad Dreams

Usually on Father's Day, I force my kids to play golf with me, or in Jesse's case, since he refuses to ever play golf again, he caddies for me. Everyone groaned about the forced indignity, but I'm under the illusion we generally had a good time.

Grace exhibiting great form, Father's Day 2004

Sonja celebrates while Jesse waits

This year, I will be celebrating Father's Day by attending my daughter Grace's wedding. It's not the same as playing golf, but I suspect it will be OK. They're going to let me speak at the ceremony (highly irregular!) as long as I don't give too much advice, and I think I can do that.

So my dad, who passed away in '95, will not be there for the wedding, and I'm sure there will be bittersweet moments, as these types of events are prone to provide. This brings me to a dream I had recently of my father, and I'd like to share it, even if I don't quite understand it.

About a week or so ago, I was napping post-breakfast (one of my totally favorite things!) and was having some sort of vivid cinematic dream. At one point, I realized that the man next to me, who I think was wearing a plaid shirt and who I don't remember talking to, was my father. As the awareness came to me that I was dreaming and wanting to savor the moment, I tried to speak to him, but he quickly receded into the distance, down to a small stick figure. As I watched him disappear into the far away hills, even this much contact evaporated, as I was pulled back into consciousness, unwillingly.

Perhaps this is a very normal dream, maybe about not realizing what you have until it's gone. I'll leave the analysis to the professionals, but I do treasure moments like this, even if they don't really 'exist' in our so-called real world.

Carl Gould, my dad

Frank Gould, my dad's dad

The Golden Rule

2009-05-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Why I like this guy

Today, President Obama walked into another trap, and as far as I'm concerned, did brilliantly, in spite of a few hecklers, or maybe because of them. I was reading a few articles about the speech, and stumbled across his remarks about faith and doubt. I know there's some who are giving him heat about the war in Afghanistan, and his recent reversal on releasing torture photos, but I still find him worthy of praise, and I find these words very poignant. I also continue to be surprised at having a president who is unafraid of trying to use language intelligently. So, let's cut to the chase here. Please read this fragment from his speech at Notre Dame today, and let me know if this is typical rhetoric or not.

And in this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you've been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. In other words, stand as a lighthouse.

But remember, too, that you can be a crossroads. Remember, too, that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It's the belief in things not seen. It's beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us. And those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

And this doubt should not push us away our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open and curious and eager to continue the spiritual and moral debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us even as we cling to our faith to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works and charity and kindness and service that moves hearts and minds.

For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It's no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule -- the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. The call to serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth.

100 Days

2009-04-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Might as well, Mighty Swell...
Tonight, President Obama gave a prime time news conference on his 100th day in office, and everyone seems to want to give him a grade. As a teacher, who has seen front line action in the grade inflation wars, you'd have to give him at least a B+, and probably higher, but it's too early to tell, so it's just a progress report.

To be honest, compared to the presidents since JFK, and I really wasn't that aware of government policies at 10 years old, this guy is a freakin' A+! He's sharp, concise, and thoughtful, and going for it full tilt.

I'm unfortunately a little scared of the crazies being whipped into a frenzy by Fox News, and I sure hope the Secret Service is doing their job. I think America is too invested into this one person, and if we should lose him, it would be difficult to go on with the same energy.

I would like to say a word about the "torture thing." I know there are many on the left who are unhappy he's not actively trying to put Dick Cheney in prison, and seemingly uninterested in prosecuting anyone for the abuses of the past administration. I heard a phrase on the Stephanie Miller show, which I usually catch a few minutes of in the morning on the way to work, where she says "Obama's playing chess, while the rest of us are playing checkers."

I think he cannot allow himself to be seen as spending any energy gunning for the crooks from the previous administration, but the wheels of justice are grinding away, and I could see an unavoidable, inexorable collision ahead where some of the crooks will pay.

So, I think he's doing great, and as long as we don't all perish in an H1N1 pandemic, I look forward to a brighter future for once!

What do you think?

Look at Me

2009-04-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Forgive us our pleasures...

Sure, the state of the world is on my mind, and I hope you all are thinking about it too. But...it's a beautiful Spring Day in San Francisco, and while I was mowing the lawn, I thought about all these flowers screaming for attention! So, let's give the little prima donnas their moment in the spotlight, and vote for your favorite colored flower, somehow surviving in my backyard!

Orange Nasturtium
I think these plants are weeds, Martha does not.

Cala Lily
These have been popping up since February; how long do they last?

Geraniums with pink highlights
I think these are weeds too, but pretty right now.

Geraniums with purple highlights
I like these better than the pink ones, don't you?

Yellow flowers
Trying to stand out amidst the iceplant (early feedback: Lauren says yellow nasturtiums or coreopsis. I'm thinking yellow clover right now, Margaret says it looks like oxalix, but as Karen says, Dennis will know!)

Flowering purple iceplant
Cameras can't quite catch the psychedelic essence of this color. It probably has some sort of natural fluorescence to bring it out so bright.

So, there you have it. Vote for your favorite color!

Here's a link to the photo gallery of the flowers

There But For Fortune

2009-02-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Time for Jubilee?

Lately, there's been an ugly mood in some areas of the media surrounding Obama's plan to bring some relief to people who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. A recent rant by a CNBC reporter has become something of an Internet sensation on YouTube. The basic message is that by trying to help people in this foreclosure crisis, we are rewarding people for bad behavior, and punishing those who were responsible, and did not get themselves into trouble.

Certainly there are people losing houses that never had any business signing a mortgage in the first place, but lo, I shall say unto you:

Let he or she who has read every line on their credit card agreement, read every line in the software agreement, or read every word of their own mortgage agreement cast the first stone.

I have been working on a spreadsheet simulation of 'generational luck' lately, and when my brain cells permit such activity, I promise to share it with you when it becomes more useful. The point is that I think many people give themselves more credit for success than they probably have a right to. I'm not saying that successful hard working people are undeserving, but there's way too much Social Darwinism in today's neocons, as if there is no such thing as good fortune, or, for the more religious, the Grace of God.

I'm not a religious man, which doesn't mean I'm not spiritual or haven't learned a lot from playing bass in church all these years, but there is something interesting I've learned about the concept of Jubilee.

There are many variants, but the basic idea is that every 50 years, debts are forgiven, slaves and prisoners are set free, and so on. Sure, I can hear what you're thinking, that this is not practical, not gonna happen, is just an ancient, archaic tradition, and maybe you're right. But the concept of Jubilee points to a reality that much of the world is shaped by events beyond our control, and unless you believe in a God that preordains the suffering of the multitudes, I think every now and then we need to do whatever we can to ameliorate the inequities caused by birth, climate change, and yes, the so-called "act of God."

When I was a child, sometimes serious family squabbles would occur, not unlike many families I'm sure, and the only way forward was to "start from scratch." The burdens of the past can be overwhelming, and the need to start over is natural, and healthy. Just like a forest fire becomes inevitable when smaller natural cleansing fires are suppressed, societies can come to a flash point when large amounts of underclass build up, until catastrophic change is the only possible outcome.

Forgiveness is a trait I think most people understand, but it's really just the everyday microcosmic version of Jubilee.

Rather than quote T. S. Eliot again (it would be so easy!) I am reminded of the late Phil Ochs (the troubadour pictured at top) song "There But For Fortune." Here's the last verse:

Show me the country where bombs had to fall,
Show me the ruins of buildings once so tall,
And I'll show you a young land with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or go I -- you and I.
You and I,
There but for fortune, go you or go I -- you and I.

I know it's presumptive to think I have anything to add, but perhaps we could add a new verse?

Show me the family asleep on the floor
Show me the insurance they can't pay anymore
And I'll show you a country with shame piled so high
Yes there but for fortune, go you or I -- you and I

Penguin Indecision

2009-02-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

In either a brief respite from the idiocy of the current political news, or perhaps subconsciously inspired by the same news, I bring you the penguin that couldn't jump in the water.

Beware the Bathtub

2009-02-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

Taxation as Theft?
Like a bad movie, the neocon zombies just keep coming. Here we are, less than a month after the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, and just when you thought it was safe to ignore these zombies, they still still walk on, droning the monotonous mantra: "More tax cuts, less spending!" over and over and over...

The harmless-looking fellow pictured here is Grover Norquist. I had to search Google to find the name of the person credited with the infamous quote:

I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

One might think that the last 8 years of failed policy would have put a nail in that coffin, but just like a contract killer, whose employer may have changed his mind, the killer continues the quest. Even with the country in the grips of the worst recession since the Great Depression, there has been a near-total opposition to Obama's stimulus plan, a plan almost all economists (Democrat and Republican) agree is necessary. It seems like the neocons are on a kamikaze mission. They can't let Obama's plan succeed, because it represents the triumph, in their eyes, of socialism over the so-called free market. They would rather we all go down in flames than give the government a chance to put people to work. Obama has had to revert to pre-election town halls to keep the pressure on these politicians to do something. Meanwhile, the stimulus package gets watered down, and spending programs (dubbed "pork" by the conservative media) get cut.

Meanwhile, back here in California, another group of robots has control of the state budget. Due to the legacy of Prop 13, new taxes must be approved by 2/3 of the state legislature. So, a small band of Republicans has held the California budget hostage every year, even with a large Democratic majority. The media seems unwilling to confront head-on the notion that taxes are inherently bad, that for some reason we shouldn't have to pay for government in bad times. Who the h-e-double hockey sticks do they expect to pay for things?

Dig this, there's even some very literal talk of denying the New Deal even worked. If they repeat these lies enough times, it must come true.

Do whatever you can to support the government actually being allowed to help.

What a concept, the government being actually

of the people, by the people, for the people

My Life in Posters

2009-02-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

Sing a Song
I was looking through the web at old Fillmore posters, primarily of concerts I'd been through, and thought the posters themselves were an interesting story, probably more interesting than my comments, so it's an experiment to see if I can keep the format moving, without too much interruption on my part! I also hope that some of you may chime in if you saw any of these shows, or saw these bands during this short era.

Donovan/HP Lovecraft/Mother Earth Thanksgiving Weekend 1967
The first one is actually one I didn't go to, but Martha did! I never got to see HP Lovecraft, and always wished I had. I remember hearing Bill Graham talk about what a shame they broke up so early.

This was during the height of Donovan's popularity. I asked Martha to share a few words about this concert, and here is what she remembers:

I went to the Winterland concert with my friend Jan Burton and Kate Meyers, who I believe were going to write a review for the high school newspaper. Jan's older brother drove us from San Jose to San Francisco. I knew the headliner was Donovan, who had some big hits (Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman), but didn't know the opening acts, H.P. Lovecraft and Mother Earth. We arrived from our suburban teenage world to a very strange scene--a big crowded concert, dark with a light show behind the bands on stage, lots of smoke in the air, loud music, dancing, no assigned seats. I remember Donovan had long hair, wore some kind of flowing robe, tossing flowers out to the crowd. It was a new concert experience for me, but was evidence of the new alternative music that we were listening to on the radio--KMPX on the FM dial.

Mothers/Tim Buckley/Chambers Bros
Winterland, December 1967
This was my first concert of any kind or size, and quite mindblowing. The only group I was familiar with at the time was The Chambers Bros. At this point in time, "Time Has Come Today" was out and out the most exciting thing being played on the radio, or just wafting out of record stores on Telegraph Ave. The stage was on the Eastern side of the room, and projection screens were hung all the way across the East and North side of the hall. Since I had no knowledge at the time of The Mothers or Tim Buckley, I don't have much in the way of specific memories. I have this image of Buckley wearing an oversized denim shirt, big head of hair hanging down over his face, as he strummed wildly on his acoustic 12-string. The crowd seemed much hipper and older than me (I was a high school senior at the time, just turned 17) and they seemed very knowledgeable about Zappa's music.

Chambers Bros/Sunshine Company/Siegel-Schwall
Fillmore Auditorium, January 1968
This was the second time I'd seen The Chambers Bros in an 8-month period of meteoric change. They were now headliners, and dressed more in the hippie fashion than the first time I saw them, when they were in more traditional sharp looking suits. The Sunshine Company was somewhat out of place, being a hit-single type of group, sandwiched in between the bluesy Siegel-Schwall band and the hyper-hot Chambers Bros. in the intimate confines of the small Fillmore.

John Mayall/Arlo Guthrie/Loading Zone
Fillmore February 1968
What a concert. At the time, what John Mayall meant to me was Peter Green's "The Supernatural," my favorite guitar instrumental of all time. But Peter had left the band, and his replacement was Mick Taylor. Yes, that Mick Taylor, future Rolling Stones guitarist. It should be noted, that during this whole era, there were usually 3 bands, and each band did two sets! The Loading Zone was new to me, and looked totally un-rockstarish, but they really cooked. Arlo's sets were really good. I saw him wandering in the back room between sets later that night. John Mayall's sets were just basically a long blues groove. At one point he pulled some old black blues guy from the audience to come up and jam with him. They were still playing at 2 AM, when we left to go pickup some friends, including Lori Englefried, who had been waiting outside the Avalon for me to get there! I still apologize to Lori everytime I see her at our high school reunion! I didn't get home until 3 AM, and was grounded for a while!

Cream/James Cotton/Jeremy and the Satyrs/Blood Sweat and Tears
Winterland March 1968
Fortunately, after a couple of months, my parents let me go out again to a concert. This was memorable for a couple of reasons. First, obviously, Cream was the hot thing then, and this was the concert they recorded Wheels of Fire at. Also, this was the West Coast debut of Blood Sweat and Tears, who were descended from The Blues Project, and there was a lot of hoopla about them. It was great to see James Cotton, the classic Chicago blues harmonica player, the real deal, sandwiched between the generation-younger white bands. Cream was excellent, but my memories are hard to separate from the live album I've listened to a jillion times. What I do remember was that the horns in BS&T were so loud, some of my friends (Jeff Gossett among them) bailed during the second set, and missed Cream's 2nd set rather than sit through the horns again! I do remember Al Kooper standing on stage, playing his SG real loud, doing "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know."

Chambers Bros/Albert King/Richie Havens Winterland May 1968
You may notice the poster says Buffalo Springfield. They unfortunately had just broken up, and Albert King played instead. The Chambers Bros were again red hot. At this time, it was somewhat typical for the audience to sit on the floor during the set. When The Chambers Bros played, however, everyone stood up and danced! Richie Havens was excellent, and Albert King's Flying V, coming out of his huge Acoustic amp (you know, the one with the horn on top!) just sliced through air in his classic Live Wire/Blues Power style!

Big Brother/Richie Havens/Illinois Speed Press
Fillmore West, July 1968
While I have memories of Big Brother being OK, and Richie Havens acting really stoned, what I really remember about this night was what happened to my car. Earlier on the way to the concert, we drove my MG sedan through the Haight, and there was a lot of police there. Apparently some sort of riot was going on at the time. When I got back to my car, parked in a nearby alley, my car had been broken into, but nothing taken. Rumors of policemen breaking into cars were rampant, but I never quite understood what was going on. Strange days indeed.

Chambers Bros/Charlatans/Queen Lily Soap
Fillmore West August 1968
When I attended my first concert back in December, The Chambers Bros were third on the bill. Now I was seeing them for the third time as a headliner, and the line waiting to get in was really long. Now at the Fillmore West, the crowd was wearing lots of Nehru jackets and peace medallions. At this show, they played selections from their next album, A New Time - A New Day, which is sadly out of print. Smokin' versions of "I Can't Turn Your Loose," and "I Wish It Would Rain" stand out.

The Charlatans, which at the time featured a soon to go solo Dan Hicks, played their old-timey stuff, featuring songs such as "How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?" and "Alabama Bound."

For some reason, all I remember about Queen Lily Soap was the guitarist had frizzy hair, and was left-handed. I guess I'll never know if that's true!

Chuck Berry/Steve Miller Band/Kensington Market
Fillmore West, September 1968
Chuck Berry is notorious for using any band of locals as his backup band when he comes to town. But for these shows, his backup band was most excellent indeed! This was the original 5-piece Miller band with Boz Scaggs, who I did not really appreciate of course at that time! This was before Sailor came out, but they did preview "Livin' in the USA" for us that night. I remember during the Berry portion of the show (Boz not in backup band) Chuch egged Steve into a guitar duel. At first, Stevie Guitar demurred, rather than offend a living legend. But soon lick-trading ensued, and Miller was beyond up to the task. Eventually when Berry could no longer keep up, he wave him away, and duck-walked across the stage away from him! [note: I saw the 3-man Miller band later at Fillmore West, but can't find the poster art I remember. Perhaps I just don't remember the other bands that night!]

Jefferson Airplane/Ballet Afro Haiti/AB Skhy
Fillmore West, October 1968
I must've been home for the weekend from UCSB, and I remember arriving late, not knowing who was on stage, or what I'd missed. I did see this guy with long blond hair on stage, but when they started to play an electrifying cover of Fred Neil's "Other Side of This Life," I knew that guy with the long blond hair was Jack Casady, and that the Airplane was on stage!

Again, I was lucky enough to be at a concert that would be recorded, and eventually came out as Bless Its Pointed Little Head, which I think is one of the best live albums ever. Once again though, my specific memories, except for the opening notes, are mixed with repeated listenings to the album.

Ten Years After/Spirit/Country Weather
Fillmore West, March 1969
Perhaps I was home on Spring Break, but I remember going with my roommate Chris Torlakson, Linda Melin, and some friends from Daly City of Chris'.

I definitely remember this concert. Alvin Lee was the awesome speed demon of blues guitar back then, and this was before he became a big star vis-a-vis Woodstock. [on a side note, I stumbled into him years later at the New Orleans NAMM show, all alone in the Tokai booth, working for the Japanese musical instrument company. I told him about seeing him at this concert!] Also memorable was how the bass player, Leo Lyon, would over-emote his playing, even with the two-note "Spoonful!"

Of note were the two sets by Spirit. The first set was a total knockout, with all their hits of the time, and they really cooked. When they did the beginning of "It's All The Same," with that Theremin-sounding intro, it was so loud, that when it bottomed out, it sounded like a bomb went off! Their second set was way too spacy, and they never seemed to get it going again.

Butterfield/Bloomfield/Birth Fillmore West, March 1969
I'm not quite sure how I got back to the Fillmore West a couple of weeks later for this show, but back then, a student could fly standby from Santa Barbara for almost nothing! I had never seen the original Buttefield Blues Band with Mike Bloomfield, so this was a treat. At this time, music critic Ralph J Gleason put Bloomfield in the top pantheon of guitarists, and Bloomfield's passing was a real tragedy.

In a related coincidence, I was recently having lunch with our future in-laws, and saw this poster on the wall in Reno!

I have no specific memories, except that I was very impressed with Bloomfield's sense of touch on the guitar, a true master.

Ten Years After/Ike and Tina Turner/The Flock Fillmore West, July 1969
Having survived my first year away at college, Here I was seeing Ten Years After again. What Bill Graham was great at doing back then was exposing his clientele, which was primarily young and white, to musicians they might not normally get a chance to see. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was so cool. This was the first time I saw them (I think I saw them also at UCSB) and they really knocked me out with their energy. It was kind of an echo of the Chambers Bros earlier, in that this time the band was all decked out in matching suits. The next time would be quite different.

It's A Beautiful Day/Ike & Tina Turner/Alice Cooper Fillmore West, end of October 1969
Looking back after 40 years, three months would seem like a quick flash in time, but much was happening at the time in Ike and Tina's world. This was an entirely new show, and they were debuting covers of the Beatles' "Come Together" and CCR's "Proud Mary" before they would release these versions on vinyl. The band was now dressed very casually, and the crowd loved them.

All I knew of Alice Cooper at the time, was that they were somehow associated with Frank Zappa. This was indeed the presaging of a new era in rock shows, as this was the first time a band eschewed the normal light show, and used dramatic lighting that I had seen. They had bright spotlights at the foot of the stage that projected stark shadows on the rear wall; it was really rather shocking at the time!

Beautiful Day was excellent, but what I mainly remember is that at the beginning of the second set (remember, this is the 6th set of the night!) I scored a seat on one of the couches in the back of the room, and all I remember is the start of the song "Bulgaria," with the words

When you're in a dream...

The next thing I remember is one of the Fillmore guards waking me up, saying something like "Party's over, can't stay here, gotta go home!"

The Closing of The Fillmore West
Boz Scaggs/Cold Blood/Flamin' Groovies/Stoneground
June 30 1970
I think I'll stop with this one. This was definitely a beginning and an end for me. This was the only show of the last week of shows I saw when Bill Graham decided to stop the concerts. It really seemed the end of an era. I had recently dropped out of school, and had just moved in with my friends Jack and Kate on Miramar St. in the Ingleside. This was practically my first night in San Francisco as a resident!

I have seen Boz countless times, but I do remember this show. His band was the one from the Moments album, and the FM hit at the time was "We Were Always Sweethearts." This show was right in my wheelhouse, as Boz, Cold Blood, and Tower of Power were three of the records that drew me to leave school and move back to the Bay Area. After all, the last song I played on the turntable before I drove away was the closer from Boz's album, "Can I Make It Last, Or Will It Just Be Over?" Cold Blood was exciting, and tight, and for a special treat at the end of the night, they had an all star jam, with Taj Mahal on vocals.

Yes indeed, there were some nice shows back then. I don't think it was all just my imagination.

The Definition of Insanity

2009-02-05T23:42:00.000-08:00

I had no idea who first said "The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result." A quick web search says Einstein, with some sources saying Ben Franklin, and yet others claiming neither. It's not really important who said it, or if it's even true. I imagine the medical community has a different definition altogether.

But, I do have to tell you, it makes me crazy!

After the last 8 years of tax break mania, not to mention those 8 painful years of Reaganomics, it's just making me bananas to hear these idiots in the House and Senate who worship Jabba the Limbaugh keep talking about how they don't like Obama's stimulus package because it has too much spending, and not enough tax cuts! Jeebus! What the hell do they think stimulus is? This is like rolling that rock up the hill over and over and over...

The Undiscovered Country

2009-01-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

Are We There Yet?

When the day finally came for Barack Obama to become our 44th President, it unfolded with a lot of positive energy I hadn't foreseen. I knew I'd be happy, but the incredible outpouring of emotion and joy that enveloped every available square inch of Washington D. C. just floored me. I was out of town this last weekend, and missed the big Sunday musical celebration, but eventually watched it online. It's odd that with just a simple exorcism via the ballot, the mood of the country could change so dramatically. The symbolism of the performances on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial was striking. Video clips of Marian Anderson, Martin Luther King, and JFK were counterpoints to young and old musical artists singing classics. I was particularly moved to see the old Sam Cooke song, A Change is Gonna Come. It was great to see U2 do Pride (In the Name of Love), which was originally dedicated to MLK, done in front of the huge seated statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Obama's acceptance speech was not the second coming of the Gettysburg Address, nor was it meant to be. It was a direct communiqué to all of us that the day had come, and that the change we'd all been waiting for was going to happen through our own hands, and that the government would not be a thing of alienation, but an extension of the will and needs of the people. While his first words were gracious ones, directed at ex-president Bush (jeez, it feels good to say 'ex-president Bush!') but soon heard in no uncertain terms that there was a new sheriff in town, and America would no longer be operating under the same old patterns of politics and power.

Before today, I'd heard some snickering remarks about the phrase "Be the change," but today, that seems real to me, and what it's all about, and also how it must be the way things will work.

No TV, No Internet

2009-01-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Somehow, our cable has been severed, so it's DVD's and my iPhone tonight!

Odd Couple: Barack Obama and Rick Warren

2009-01-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Does this make me an apologist?
On January 20, Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. This has caused much uproar, outcry, and gnashing of teeth in the progressive and gay communities, for obvious reasons.

Four years ago, I wrote about my dislike for Rick Warren. My distress over the passage of California's Proposition 8 is just as public. I have been solidly in Obama's camp since the Dead's endorsement back in February.

So...what's the deal here with Rick Warren?

In a recent, well-written column by Jon Carroll in the Chronicle, called The Purpose-Driven Bigot, Carroll totally, and logically describes why inviting Rick Warren was such a mistake. I couldn't disagree with any of it, and especially resonated with this statement:

It was an easy trap to avoid, is what I'm saying. It was an easy statement to refrain from making. But Obama has chosen to start his administration with a bigot addressing God on behalf of the American people. Not the change I was hoping for.

So..what's the deal here with Rick Warren?

Why would I dare touch this? Perhaps the same stupidity that prevents me from being silent when I should just stifle; who knows? But I think there's something extra going on here. Perhaps I just want my heroic image of Obama to be vindicated, and not dragged down into some sort of crass political expediency. I don't think Obama is throwing gays under the bus by any means. I see revisionists laying the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy towards gays in the military at Bill Clinton's feet, but I feel that's unfair. Clinton tried to do away with discrimination against gays in the military, but ran into such a buzzsaw, DADT was forged in the process of compromise.

I think that what's going on here is that Obama is trying to bring two disparate worlds together, to see and experience each other.

To progressives like myself, the issue of marriage equality is a no-brainer, and just another in a long line of examples of why church and state need to be kept separate. There's nothing vague about this. But to many people, who may have voted for Proposition 8, they may have a different reality. Some of them are outright homophobes, but I supect many of them are just out of touch, and have not been able to see our gay brothers and sisters as, well, simply our brothers and sisters. I heard one commentator on the radio say that if everyone had been to one of the same-sex marriages that went on recently in California, the vote would have been different. I truly believe that. When one can put a face to 'the other' it is no longer 'the other.'

In short, what I think Obama is doing is bringing two worlds together to try and work it out. I think this falls under the You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar philosophy. It's sort of like a time warp. If we were to look at ourselves a century ago, there are many aspects of our lives we would all (hopefully!) agree have no place in the modern world. I think in most respects, many evangelicals are good people, but are still in a mindset that blinds them to the consequences of their actions. If Obama can bring us together, could we indeed 'work it out?'

Hey, it's not even January 20th yet! I prefer to give Obama the benefit of the doubt at this point.

All good things in all good time.

Recycled Memories at the Academy of Sciences

2008-12-30T22:11:00.000-08:00

No Easy Task
I have been going to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for most of my life. I didn't go during the remodeling project, when they were downtown, but received a gift of a membership for xmas, and went down bright and early (so we thought) yesterday morning to get into the 'express entrance' line for members. This would of course speed us past the riff-raff in the ordinary line. This turned out to be only half true, as the member line was incredibly long, but nowhere near as long as the line of the regular ticket holders. By the time we got in, and oriented ourselves to how to get a planetarium ticket, it was already too late for a morning viewing. The line was already long for the rainforest, so we headed towards the back, where the alligators were.

The new location is in the back, near the rear entrance. It used to be larger, and right in front when you walked in. In those old pre-enlightened times, people would throw coins at the alligators and snapping turtles, as if they were objects of cosmic luck. I distinctly remember my late Auntie Jean, who was quite a character, getting one of the guards to poke an alligator with a long stick, so it would roar for us. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it really happened!

One thing I could never do as a child, was wander through the aquarium, take pictures with my iPhone, and simultaneously post them on Facebook! There's free wifi inside! The new Academy is pretty awesome, and I wonder when it will ever not be crowded. I think I'll just have to take a day off, on a Tuesday when members get in an hour early, rush into the line to get a planetarium ticket, then get in the line for the rainforest!

Even having lunch was a compromise. There were many separate, interesting looking food stations, all with their individual waiting lines. We had some great shrimp and pork spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, but I'd like to try something different next time too. There's even a chi-chi restaurant called The Moss Room downstairs, but they were also totally booked!

It's highly recommended.

Psychedelic Santa

2008-12-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

What's Santa listening to on his iPhone?

Now, I admit I like Santa a lot, and I also like Apple a lot. So there I was in Stonestown, checking out the Apple store, as I am wont to do, and there's Santa, with neon tube earbuds. I just had to snap a shot. I don't know if this Santa was specially made for Apple, or just something generic one picks up as the Santa Store, but I dug it!

It also give me a chance to tell all of you how much I wish the best for you next year, and to hold on to the Season of Peace vibe, that passes all too quickly.

Peace,
Geoff

Keith Olbermann's Prop 8 Editorial

2008-11-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

While I continue to work on my song inspired by the wedding wars, Keith Olberman of MSNBC delivers this extremely passionate message. I used to dislike him when he was on ESPN, as I thought he was too cynical then. What a transformation he has gone through having to deal with the idiots and hate mongers of the modern cable news world.

Fragile Hope

2008-11-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

Feeling Better

I have to tell you that I worry for Obama, part of the package of hope I carry for him. While it was a resounding political victory, I am reminded that it could have gone differently. The economic meltdown definitely helped Obama shine in the public eye. If the collapse had held off until after the election, would this all be happening? It's not for me to say.

I can feel the possibilities whispering in my ear, shouting from my soul. The sobering reality that Prop 8 looks like it's winning shows the power of fear that still exists in our society. I guess what I usually do at a time like this is quote T. S. Eliot.

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

Let us dance into the future.

Enough Already!

2008-11-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

I can't take it anymore!

Will I be happy in 24 hours? Will I be angry? Will I be sad? Will I be all those things?

If they steal the election again, will I feel like moving to Canada? Certainly not to Alaska. If Prop 8 wins, how long do we have to wait for the generation of hate to die off?

If Barack Obama wins, will we be holding our breath, worried that every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Sara right-wing wingnut will be out to get him?

America could be so much more than it is right now.

Are you as ready for this to be over as I am?

Sleight of Hand: GOP cornered and dangerous

2008-10-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing to see here! Hey, look at that ACORN!
As the end looms, and the smoke clears, the GOP strategy seems clear. It doesn't seem like anyone on the Democratic side is taking a victory for granted, but McPalin's outlook is pretty bleak right now. So, from what I'm hearing and reading, the last strategy is outright stealing the election by reverting to 18th and 19th century voter suppression strategies.

The Repugnicans have been screaming bloody murder about voter fraud, trying to get everyone talking about ACORN, but the true cases of voter fraud are rarer than lottery winners. This is all just a smokescreen to distract people from what is happening across the country, all in the perverted name of the Help America Vote Act. Just like in Florida in 2000, several states are thinning out the voter rolls, and often more likely in poor and ethnic areas. According to the Steal Back Your Vote comic book, co-written by Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast, Republican lawyers across the country are challenging and intimidating voters. In their recent article in Rolling Stone, they wrote:

On Super Tuesday, one in nine Democrats who tried to cast ballots in New Mexico found their names missing from the registration lists.

A lot of voters are being challenged because their records don't match on the Drivers License database with the Social Security data. I was called to jury duty twice in one year, just because one list had my name spelled differently than another list. Maybe I won't be able to vote either! I just ran across this story about how certain Florida counties are refusing to go along with the real strict hassling of voters. This is out there to be paid attention to.

This has to bubble up to the top of the media consciousness soon, before it's too late. Please pass the word about this strategy. Enormous sunlight needs to shine into these dark ugly corners, if we are to preserve our democracy.

Insert Caption Here!

2008-10-22T16:50:00.001-07:00

according to the ABC caption:

Republican presidential nominee John McCain almost heads the wrong way as he leaves the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama after the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Oct. 15, 2008.
(Jim Bourg/Reuters)

So, what I really would like is for as many of you as possible to write your own caption for this photo!

A Stake Through The Heart

2008-10-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hunting for Vampires
OK, so I got this weird image/fantasy about the change this country could go through. It seems like lately the McCain/Palin beast has been all too willing to summon the dark demons of fear and prejudice in in their naked drive to keep the Cheneys of this world in power. I feel like the promise of an Obama presidency is so enticing, and will be such a positive step for this country, but these demons need to be quelled. My hope is that enough people will wake up in time to 'drive a stake through the heart' of this darkness, and will stay vigilant after the election to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The moment Bill Clinton was sworn in, he was under attack by these same forces. Just how much more could he have accomplished if he didn't have 'that weakness?' Can a President Obama summon the kind of unity needed to transform this country into what it could be? That's why we need to keep these demons in check, to not let them out of the box ever again. Yeah, yeah, dream on Geoff.

When I was doing a little web search on the phrase stake through the heart, a weird story popped up. Apparently, some real vampire hunters in Serbia dug up the body of Slobodan Milosevic, and rammed a wooden stake through the heart of the former dictator to stop him 'returning from the dead'. Apparently some people take the concept just a tad too literally!

One of the reasons I like Star Trek so much is that it presents a world where the decision has been made to leave institutionalized poverty behind, forever. It still exists on other worlds, but humans have left it all behind. Can we ever unite to such an extent? It seems unlikely in the face of so much entrenched self-interest, but hey...

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Donna Brazile Is Not Going To The Back Of The Bus

2008-10-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeff Johnson forwarded this video from Donna Brazile that hits the nail on the head. I wanted those of you who aren't already on Jeff's list to see it too. This comes at the end of an 80-minute panel, and Donna just launches into this wonderful ad-lib. This is incredibly timely, considering the incredibly facsistic, racist rallies that Palin and McCain were whipping into frenzies on Monday. Donna's comments were this weekend, before the ugly incidents.

Bluegrass Bikeride

2008-10-04T17:08:00.001-07:00

Saturday in Golden Gate Park
I slept most of the morning, while Martha was away at a Peace Corps conference, and decided that now that the sun had come out, maybe I'd get on my bike, and head over to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which has become such a huge annual affair in Golden Gate Park.

Once I got to the park, it was somewhat uphill, and even though I'm in better shape now, I was sure breathing hard on my way past the buffalo, and on to the western border gate of the festival. There were so many people, bike riders were asked to walk their bikes, so my ride turned into a walk. I could hear the sweet pedal steel of the Desert Rose Band, playing on the Star Stage. When I got close enough, I tried to take my picture, with the stage in the background. Now and then, my iPhone camera gets its brain scrambled when taking a picture, and it seemed somewhat fitting I should get this chopped-up image of me still huffing and puffing!

I headed farther into the park to the Rooster Stage, and caught the very last songs of Nick Lowe. Before I got close enough to see, I could hear a solo acoustic guitar singing "I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll," one of Nick's classics. I was hoping that maybe Elvis Costello would join him at the end and sing "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," a Nick Lowe song most famously done by Elvis. Elvis wasn't in the building, but my wishes were granted anyway, as Nick closed his set with a slower, tasty solo acoustic version. That was worth the bike ride right there!

At this point, I walked my bike (very slowly; walking a bike through a huge crowd is not so easy!) over to the Arrow Stage, where Jerry Jeff Walker was playing. Heard some nice tunes, such as the pretty Navajo Rug, Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother, and heard LA Freeway as I headed back home. Kind of nice to have these lyrics stuck in my head as I left the vicinity for the ride home:

If I can just get off of that L.A. Freeway
Without getting killed or caught
Down the road in a cloud of smoke
For some land, some land that I ain't bought, bought, bought
If I can just get off that L.A. Freeway
If I can just get off of that L.A. Freeway
Without getting killed or caught

What About Now?

2008-09-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

Enough!
I'm sick to freakin' death of the underlying text of what passes for politics in this so-called Greatest Country on Earth. The news media simultaneously reports that many white voters think blacks are "too lazy, violent, and responsible for their own troubles." At the same time we hear some people think Obama is too elitist, too priviledged, too refined.

We hear whispers about how he's really a radical Muslim, while hearing about his so-called racist black Christian pastor.

Make up your freakin' mind!

I'm sick of basically getting the idea that America is "not ready" for a black president, while of course having to put up with comments about how he's not black enough. I don't feel like waiting. I've waited long enough. 8 years is more than enough. How's NOW work for you?

From Robbie Robertson's song What About Now:

There's gonna be a change of season
Indian summer look around and it's gone
Why you wanna save the best for last
We grow up so slowly and grow old so fast

We don't talk about forever
We just catch it while we can
And if i grab on to the moment
Don't let it slip away out of my hand

Chorus:
What about now
Forget about tomorrow
It's too far away
What about now
Close your eyes
Don't talk of yesterday
It's too far away, too far away
What about now

I'm coming out of the shadows
I'm getting of of this one way street
Blue memories they just gather dust
Leave them in the rain they turn into rust

Did you see the march to freedom
Did you ever see savannah moon
All the people walking in a line
Said to the man, is it my time?

Chorus

In the walk of a lifetime
When you know it's the right time
I can't wait until the ship comes in
I can't wait starting all over again
The errors of a wise man
Make the rules for a fool

MP3 (with vinyl record scratch noises!)

Fox in the Henhouse

2008-09-23T21:07:00.001-07:00

Wall Street Worries
Sure, there are probably people who shouldn't have been given home loans, and no, government shouldn't always be the solution for bad judgement, but the latest fiscal crisis is so much more than just a few bad loans to people in no position to repay them. There has been a massive deregulation of the finance industry by the same folks who have brought us privatization of almost everything.

Now, people by the score are losing their homes, their jobs, and their dreams, and all the government can do is defend executive compensation for CEO's of bankrupt firms? And oh, by the way, in case one is not that good with powers of ten, the $700 billion price tag is on a par with the cost of the Iraq war. So, it's not like I don't want the government helping us out, I mean, that's what government should be doing, right? But...do I trust the current regime with that many zeroes? I just don't have that kind of faith.

I will say that the potential is here for the biggest heist in history. Shall we give them a blank check?

Omigawd!

2008-09-21T14:47:00.001-07:00

Winter Wonder Phobia?
If you know me, you know I'm a corny guy when it comes to Christmas. I like looking at gawdy xmas light displays, I enjoy watching It's a Wonderful Life, and I love endlessly listening to the Phil Spector Xmas album. But yesterday, while I was at Costco, and it's not even October yet, the sight of this Santa display freaked me out!

Talking about how early they commercialize Christmas is nothing new, and of course we all know Costco is simply putting things out in advance of the season, but it still freaked me out! Am I being unreasonable?

10,000 Electric Guitars Were Groovin' Real Loud

2008-09-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

Irony Indeed!
After years of making lots of noise (after all, one of my screen names is basstooloud!) it's only fitting that this should happen to me. I offered to host the guitar jam club for another teacher after school today, and this guitar army descended on my classroom.

This clip is 22 seconds long. Imagine an hour of this!

Ramadan Sunset Dinner

2008-09-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

Break-fast dinner with the Muslim Student Union
Tonight we had the pleasure of sharing a meal with Muslim and non-Muslim coworkers and students at the school I work at. We were invited to share this meal during the month of Ramadan, where practicing Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for an entire month. It was a simple gathering, the first time I had attended such an event. In what was a cosmic coincidence, it was a beautiful clear sunset in the land of Daly City, where fog rules most of the time!
We were treated to a tasty meal, and all had a good time.
One woman spoke briefly about the event, and how it brings one closer to God, and also how it brings awareness of other people around the world who do not have enough to eat.
I share this event with you mainly to see if anyone else has attended such a meal before.

Lucy in the Sky

2008-09-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Lucy 1992-2008
Today has been a very sad day. We've known for a while that our 16+ year old foxhound Lucy was nearing the end. Intellectually, I know she was a pet, an animal, and not a human, but that doesn't make it very easy to find the right time to say it's time. We took her to the vet today to go through it together, and I miss her. She was a loved one indeed. Looking through pictures afterwards, I could see her presence woven through fabric of our lives, changing as we changed.

Gag Me With a Spoon

2008-09-02T20:20:00.001-07:00

I Couldn't Resist

I watched a little bit of the Repugnican convention tonight, and tried not to yell at the TV too much. There sure were a lot of white people at the convention, telling us proudly they were putting "Country First." It is clearer more now than ever that this campaign will rarely stray into the field of reality; lies will be told, big lies, and lots of them.

The GOP is revving up its putting down of the "Mainstream Media" at the same time that said media is brown-nosing its way through its coverage. Reality distortion indeed. I could only take so much of Fred Thompson's classic serving up of 'red meat' to the assembled multitudes, and went out for a bike ride. When I got back Joe Lieberman, ex VP candidate from 2000, was shilling for McCain. Ugh.

So, all I want to do is leave you with this classic pose of 'the maverick' John McCain taking a nap on monkey boy's shoulder.

The Bradley Effect

2008-08-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

The Nightmare of Race in America

Is it possible that we have been rope-a-doped by the Karl Roves in this country? Tantalizing us with a once-in-a-generation politician, leading us to believe America was ready to elect someone who was of mixed race heritage.

I'm not going to give up. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but we need to gear up for an effort effective enough to overcome what became known as the Bradley effect. In 1982, Tom Bradley, the black mayor of Los Angeles, had a significant lead in the polls, and the exit polls as well, but still lost the race to the dweeb Deukmejian.

I don't think some of the voters in the primaries that voted for Clinton just because she was white will ever vote for Obama, so the strategy must be clear.

Obama must win over new voters, they must turn out in record numbers to make up for the racist turnout. McCain's keepers will not leave a single dirty trick unturned. They will lie about anything, as long as it sticks until November 4. I don't think we can shame any of these racist voters into changing their minds; we just need to outnumber them. I know we must face many hardships in our life, and no matter what happens, we must go on working for a better world, but I gotta say, the thought of losing this election is so disheartening, it's unthinkable.
Don't let anyone tell you politicians are all alike, or even

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

It makes a difference. You can make a difference. We can make a difference.

Fired Up and Ready to Go!

2008-08-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Time is Now Indeed!
November 4th is not that far away. I don't know if this is a sprint to the finish line or not, but I know that if you think there's been too much slime flung at Obama so far, you ain't seen nothing yet!

They will stop at nothing, no lie is too big. Look at what they did so far: Trying to simultaneously spread innuendo that Obama is somehow a Muslim, while at the same time trying to put the albatross of his former Christian pastor around his neck. Make up your mind, is he some kind of Muslim terrorist, or a black Christian extremist? You can't have it both ways.

Watching Obama speak tonight, the possible pain of having another election stolen from us fills me with dread. I have been clapping out loud, with only Martha, Lucy, and BB here in the room with me. The hope of having someone like him as our president is overwhelmingly attractive.
We cannot turn back, we cannot turn back.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, how to get involved, but I have to do something. It is not an exaggeration for us to ask ourselves

When the time came, when history called on us to do our part, how did we answer the call?

We have to answer the call, we have to answer the challenge.

Let Freedom Rain on Dobson

2008-08-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently, that right-wing idiot James Dobson tried to get his followers to pray for rain, torrential rain, to come down upon Obama and the assembled multitude at Invesco Field tonight. The weather here and there is beautiful, and I know it really doesn't mean anything, but i couldn't help but borrow this image from a very interesting post in the Daily Kos today! Check it out!

The Power of Love, not the love of power

2008-08-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Jedi word tricks indeed!
I missed the beginning of Bill's speech, so I don't know what I missed, but I heard enough to feel like he sealed the deal.
I was fortunate enough to hear this great line:

"People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

I don't know if he plagiarized this line, but it still sounds great. The title of my post is a quote from a May Moore song, Bohemia, and I've always loved these lines:

Late afternoon is a time to dream
I like to listen to Coltraine's 'A Love Supreme'
Then I leave my rented room and I walk
Through the fading light down streets that talk
I always meet someone I could call a friend
Prejudice is something we must transcend
Coming into season this world will flower
With the power of love, not the love of power

To quote/warp Rachel Maddow from last night's speech, I really have to agree that

Anybody who could be persuaded would be persuaded by that speech.

At this point, anyone who doesn't want to get on board the O-Train has their own reasons.

No way, No how, No McCain

2008-08-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Did she stick the landing?
I think a lot of people were holding their breath tonight, to see how Hilary's speech went down. I guess I'd rate it about a 93% effectiveness rating. I don't always like her style of speaking, sometimes it seems pretty forced, but tonight she really connected a few times.
Sure, there were plenty of platitudes, but she hit paydirt when she said "No way, no how, no McCain." The audience erupted, acknowledging a great phrase, which really made the point. I was most particularly moved when she quoted Harriet Tubbman:

If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Response at times was so overwhelming, it somewhat obscurred some really good lines from being heard clearly, like:

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

The pivotal part of the speech, where she delivers the Spockian message that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, drove it all home:

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

So, what did you think?

text of speech

The Old Top 5 Desert Island Trap

2008-08-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is ridiculous!
I was reading my future son-in-law's father's blog about his 5 favorite albums, and thought I'd give it a try. What a hopeless task. I've already changed my mind in the time it took to post this! This is one of those tricky mind games, isn't it? Well, if you don't mind, please leave your list of top 5's in the comments!

The Beatles Rubber Soul
How does one choose a favorite Beatles album?

Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
A world within a world. The guitar will never be the same.

Grateful Dead American Beauty
How can this one not be there?

Love Forever Changes
Is there an album I've listened to more times? Hard to say.

Fleetwood Mac Then Play On
Peter Green's last hurrah before his long strange trip got really strange.

Yeah, yeah, I know these are all from the late 60's to 1970, but hey, what can I say?

Doggies Redux

2008-08-23T18:37:00.001-07:00

The Tail End of the Party
Martha and I had band rehearsal until 5, but rode our bikes immediately afterwards to attend the La Playa Block Party, whose promo poster said 10AM - 6PM. When we got there, all that was left was the inflated bouncy play structure for the kids, and Mannie, Moe, and Jack sitting on their trailer. We noticed the posted signs from the city said "No Parking 10 AM- 5 PM."
So...it was Martha's turn to pose with the Doggies!

Mt. Rushmore?

2008-08-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

The Dog Days of Summer

<--click to enlarge

If you were riding down the street, and saw this assemblage of canine iconography, and you had a camera in your pocket, wouldn't you stop to take a picture?

The LaPlaya Block Party is next weekend, and the three Doggie Diner heads, Manny, Moe, and Jack, are part of the stars of the show!

Rescued by East Bay neon contractor John Law, these doggies appear in the annual San Francisco St. Stupid's Day parade on April 1st.

Link: Check out the Doggie Diner page for some interesting background.

The Milli Vanilli Caper

2008-08-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

It's Showtime!

In what should come as no surprise in this American Idol world, the producers of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing opted to use the voice of one little girl, but the 'performance' of a cuter little girl with better teeth for the public show.

As AP put it:

Yang Peiyi, a 7-year-old with bright eyes and a smile made crooked by the stubs of her first grown-up teeth, was heard by an audience estimated in the billions during Friday night's ceremony, singing "Ode to the Motherland."
But they never saw her face.
Organizers passed the song off as being sung by Lin Miaoke, another perky schoolgirl who donned a sparkly red dress and soared on wires above the 91,000-strong crowd at the Bird's Nest stadium.

I guess it depends on how you feel about lip-synching. I would say that most of the time when I've seen those bloated half-time shows, it seems like the performers are lip-synching anyway. I don't like that either. I guess the problem here is a colossal case of gilding the lily. When we were watching the ceremony with some friends, we all pretty much said the same thing:

I would hate to be the next nation hosting an Olympic Games; nobody will ever top this!

Performance after performance elicited oohs, ahhs, and gasps from us all. Did someone think we would make fun of the little girl with the adult teeth growing in? Was it that necessary to be that perfect?

Kibera Children

2008-08-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Review: CSNY Deja Vu

2008-07-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

It's Deja Vu All Over Again!

Let's cut to the chase here. This movie will only play one more day in the Bay Area, and after that, you'll have to wait for the DVD. Martha and I went to see it tonight at the quirky Bridge Theater, with less than 10 people in the audience. So, you kind of already know if you like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and you probably already know if you are a fan of Young's savage/raw style of guitar. Tomorrow (Thursday July 31) is your last chance to experience it in a movie house. So...GO!

Now, back to the 2-bit review
This is not a concert film. It does document the 2006 CSNY Freedom of Speech tour, but there is lots of archival footage of older concerts and older wars. The premise is that Neil Young got journalist Mike Cerre to be an 'embed' journalist on the tour, and report positive and negative responses with unblinking honesty. Mike has already put in multiple tours as an embedded journalist in Iraq for ABC News, and there is a surreal touch of constant screen shots of the LWW Network, in CNN drag, running crawls across the bottom of the screen of war casualties, just like the stock quotes you see on TV.

The movie is quite emotional, and there is much tension as the tour heads towards the South. In Atlanta, it all boils over when the band starts singing "Let's Impeach The President." A significant number of the audience boos, and flips the band off. The embed reporter interviews many of these people as they are leaving, and it's pretty brutal. Definitely not PG.

There's any number of extremely emotional moments. Archival footage of Young singing "Ohio" was pretty intense for me. I loved hearing some of "Wooden Ships," a song I still dream of playing in church one day, and "For What It's Worth" sounds timeless, even though the song was originally written about the teenybopper riots on Sunset Strip.

The movie features a lot of war footage, and focuses on many veterans and their families. Like I said, this is far from a standard concert film. But I don't think anyone should be all that surprised. I wonder about those angry fans in Atlanta too; did they never listen to the lyrics back in the day? How can anyone be surprised that they would be against the war in Iraq?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our friend Betti Caramucci for reminding me that the movie was in town, and also that it would be closing after only one week. I don't think Betti is a CSNY fan, and probably just heard it was an anti-war movie. Bless her heart!

The Audacity of ...

2008-07-28T13:27:00.001-07:00

The Miracle of the Neon Tetras

2008-07-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Miracle of the Baby Fishes!

A good aquarium community is in balance, where the fish have enough food to eat, and the plants have enough fish pee to eat, and so on. Sometimes I'm successful at maintaining a healthy community, and sometimes I'm not. I'm not sure how often the teenager we hired to take care of the dogs fed the fish; I'm not blaming anyone, I just don't know.

A couple of days ago, I noticed 3 teeny little fish with bright blue stripes. You can see the small fish in the lower right hand corner of the photo, in comparison to a White Cloud Mountain minnow (hardy enough to survive my care.) The minnow is a little over an inch long. There were no adult neon tetras to be found! The adults apparently perished after laying the eggs. I never even could tell if I had male and female neons in the tank. I have never successfully raised any egg-laying fish (live-bearing guppies don't count!) This is really weird. Things look real disastrous in the tank, but here they are, three baby fish that should have been eaten days ago by the bigger fish! I have no idea what will happen next. There must have been some weird combination of conditions to yield this result, and I don't know how long I can keep the babies alive. If any of you know anything about neon tetras, please let me know!

Review: Mamma Mia!

2008-07-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Meryl Streep's Joyous March Through the ABBA Catalog

IMDB link

We went out to the movies last night as part of Martha's birthday celebration, to see the film version of the musical based on ABBA songs. On one hand, it's about as well marketed as anything can hope to be in a theater world dominated by The Dark Knight, since Mamma Mia is generally skewed towards female viewers, but it cannot escape the shadow. I think crowds are smaller than they would be otherwise.

And just like the stage play, the audience is part of the show. For some, ABBA is anything but pleasant. For me, I think it's a form of perfect music, perfect Euro-pop. The movie is full of ABBA classics, and with the possible exception of when Pierce Brosnan tries to sing, one can't help but sing along out loud. This is where it would have been nicer for us if the theater had been packed. Perhaps it was because it was a Monday night, perhaps because it was Daly City; I don't know. If I could make sure I was attending a sold-out show in the City, I would see it again in a minute. I see a future in ABBA parties at home when the DVD comes out!

Roger Ebert, who didn't care for the movie much aptly puts it this way:

The plot is a clothesline on which to hang the songs; the movie doesn't much sparkle when nobody is singing or dancing, but that's rarely.

Meryl Streep is quite an accomplished singer, and Pierce Brosnan, is, er, not.

Bottom line, if you like ABBA, go this weekend, on a Friday or Saturday night, when large crowds are most likely. That is unless Batman has taken over all the available screens!

Danger! Family Vacation Photos ahead!

2008-07-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Who really wants to see travel pics?

So, one of the oldest clichés is being stuck in a friend's house, watching slides of their family vacation. I understand, so I've come up with a more voluntary way to see some pix from our travels in Kauai. I started a new blog at:

http://gg-iphone.blogspot.com/

where my random iPhone pictures are thrown up as I take them. The only text is the title. I'm not going to send announcements out for every little picture, so, if you want to see some occasionally interesting pix, check it out. If you've been here or are interested, leave a comment in the regular place.

You'll see the 4 posts just prior to this one are this kind of thing, before I setup the new location. I'd be curious if anyone looks at them.

Panorama 3

2008-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Panorama 2

2008-07-09T20:59:00.001-07:00

Panorama 1 from condo

2008-07-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Liftoff

2008-07-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

BTW

2008-07-08T21:03:00.001-07:00

Oh, By The Way...

<--Grace and Peter up at Richardson's Grove back in 2003

Sometime in 1975 Martha and I visited my parents down in Cupertino, and sometime during dinner, I casually let it slip that Martha and I planned to get married in December. It was a great gag, and we replayed a version of it later with Martha's parents.

We're flying to Kauai tomorrow on a family vacation, and Grace and Peter are already there. Grace called today to make plans to meet tomorrow, and at some point, simply said "Peter proposed to me last night."

I guess turnabout is fair play. I am pretty surprised, and am running pictures through my head of Spencer Tracy and Steve Martin playing Father of the Bride. I'm trying hard to not be real obnoxious. We'll see how that goes!

Smoky Sunset 2

2008-07-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Smoky Sunset

2008-07-08T20:22:00.001-07:00

Review: The Love Guru

2008-06-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

They Call Him Maurice

Martha and I came home a day early from a short getaway (car trouble) and went out to see a movie. We were going to see the new Indiana Jones movie, but due to a schedule change, went to see The Love Guru instead.

If you like Mike Myers' lowbrow form of humor, you should get a kick out of this. It's not going to endear itself to anyone with overly thin-skinned sensibilities. It's pretty much offensive to everyone! Also, I don't recommend you see it with your children, your parents, or anyone else who you don't want to see you laughing at an inappropriate joke.

On one hand, it's just a lot of gags, piled up one on top of another. But some of them are very cleverly linked, with a delayed payoff later on (his name Maurice for example!) The opening scene is a musical number featuring Mike, a sitar, and some beautiful Bollywoodesque babes in Dolly Parton's "9 to 5."

I don't really want to say much more, as you'll have the most fun if you just go and see it. Avoid the trailers, which will just tip the hand of the gags. Get your money's worth!

Mariska Hargitay indeed my child!

Waiting for the Other Shoe

2008-05-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

The Barbed Wire is Rusted

In this crazy world where the obvious is anything but, it was great to see the ecstatic response on Gavin Newsom's face to the logical decision it was unconstitutional to deny people the right to marry, regardless of their sexuality. Sure, tomorrow may bring all the kooky right-wingers down from the hills, and right on schedule (every 4 years, during the presidential election) but today, it's a beautiful feeling, sort of like "Don't stand in the way of Love."

Indeed.

Don't Stand in the Way of Love.

Very, Very, Urgent

2008-04-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know a lot about these TED talks; I have seen one or two before. In this relatively short speech, Al Gore delivers a warning and a challenge to us, and he looks pretty intense about it all. I would encourage you to set aside a few minutes (about 27!) to watch this. If you have a pretty fast computer, press the full-screen button (to the right of the speaker icon) to enlarge the picture:

I have shown the Inconvenient Truth DVD to my freshmen Earth Science classes because I believe it's good science, not just a political issue. Many students have already been shown the video by their history teacher, or maybe the substitute teacher, but I wanted them to see it from a science point of view.

This talk is short, and to the point:

we don't have much more time to act
we can change things if we do act
this will be the defining challenge of our time.

Please consider what he's saying, and if you do agree, spread around the knowledge of this talk. You can access the original at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/243 or at a stand-alone page I created (which strangely works better at full-screen mode than the original) here: http://ggould.com/blogstuff/Urgent_Al.html

Thank you for your time, and I hope you'll share with the rest of us your thoughts below.

Timelessness of MLK's speeches

2008-04-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

In the Name of Love

Last Friday, we observed the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. It's a somber occasion to remind us of a great loss, but also an opportunity to look at what King was doing in his last days. I want to mainly give credit to another blogger, digby, and ask you to read his blog from Friday, which deals with MLK's speeches near the end of his life. My thanks to Mike Groh who turned me on to this excellent piece. In closing, I would simply like to print an excerpt from a speech against the war in Vietnam, delivered exactly a year earlier, which closes digby's blog post. Jeez, you think they might be relevant today?

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wombs of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." We in the West must support these revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain."

My First Friday Night

2008-02-24T19:29:00.001-08:00

Foraging in the Food Court

This last Friday night, we went out for dinner and then on to an opening at the Museum of Modern Art.

Returning to Westfield Centre (Sonja just got a job at Bloomies!), we went back to the food court for dinner. This gave me a chance to retake the picture of the dome, without the lights. It's still quite beautiful, just different.

Before my recent awareness of my blood pressure, there were too many choices, but now I was nervously trying to minimize my fat and sodium intake! What a surprise, no low-fat, low-sodium outlets in the food court! I settled for some salmon and veggie chunks on a skewer!

On to the Museum!

Martha is a member of the SFMOMA, and she gets invited to these openings where crowds of trendy people gather to view cool things. This time it was the opening of an exhibition of Lee Friedlander's photographs. We also went up to the 5th floor to see Olafur Eliasson's trippy exhibit, which in many ways was like some of the perceptual exhibits at the Exploratorium, done up large and art museum sized! When we stepped out of the elevator on the 5th floor, we were flooded with a pure yellow light. It was pretty strange, and made you look like some zombie out of a cheezy B-movie. Hard to believe the color of light could have such a strong effect on how you feel.

All in all, after all the time in the hospital, and self-focus, it was nice to get out for a few hours. Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive. I go back to work tomorrow!

Second Chances

2008-02-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

Quick, close your eyes and touch your nose!

You know how a friend greets you with "How are ya?" and you reply "Just fine?" In many respects, I am 'just fine.' As a matter of fact I feel quite lucky in a way I never did before. It feels kind of odd to answer with "I just had a stroke, but otherwise, I'm fine!"

Now, philosophically, I already believed that one should be thankful for the life one's already had to live, and live each day like it's our last. But I just gotta tell ya that it feels a little different when the right half of your body seems out of whack, and you find out you have sky-high blood pressure when you do go to the doctor's.

So, to cut to the chase for those of you that may not know, and to shorten my typing since it's not too easy for my right hand to type accurately, I had a small stroke this week, and I'm basically fine, should recover completely, and must change my health lifestyle, and take blood pressure medicine conceivably forever.

Earlier, on Wednesday, I felt real ill, weak, and went to the clinic, where I found out about my blood pressure. She gave me some cognitive tests, which included closing my eyes and touching my nose with my fingertip. I did fine, and was sent home with some blood pressure medicine. I noticed later that night that it was hard to type with my right hand (which is still true!) but thought it might be the medication. I woke up wide awake around 3 AM, and for some reason started touching my nose, and was shocked when my right finger missed my nose very significantly. My right leg didn't function as well, and I really thought I had a stroke. I had to convince Kaiser of this the next day, and then found myself in the emergency room on Valentine's Day night (boy, did I blow my Valentine's Day!) watching my blood pressure every 30 minutes. Thoughts of guilt and selfishness about how I was now hurting my family flooded my mind. So many of my friends checked in with their concerns, I definitely felt unworthy. Eventually I said to myself, "Quit whining, and just be thankful!"

There's an old saying that goes something like this:

Nothing clears the mind like an execution in the morning

It's no secret that excess weight and a sedentary lifestyle pose health risks, but boy howdy, it sure seems real now. For the foreseeable future (should I be so blessed to have one) my life will change. I share with you a picture of the first meal I've made since getting out of the hospital, and I presume I'll be learning a lot more about low-salt and low-fat diets, to keep me from going insane. I just need to realize my old life is over, and I've been blessed to have a second go at it. Not being able to pig out on desserts and unhealthy 'comfort food' all the time is a no brainer of a trade for my second chance.

[cliché ending alert!]

So, count your blessings, tell the people you care about that you love them, and do what you need to do to stay around this dance a little longer!

Destination Shopping

2007-12-30T23:27:00.000-08:00

Shopping as Entertainment
[picture at left is straight up view of rotunda dome, with lots of strings of holiday lights hanging down.]
I have generally escaped contact with the mass consumerist culture this Christmas Shopping season (last minute shopping for chocolates for Martha's xmas stocking are hopefully forgiven!) but as we headed out today to do some errands, and a little grocery shopping, we somehow ended up downtown at the Westfield Mall, home of San Francisco's Bloomingdale's, which is housed in the ghost of the old Emporium.

In many ways, a mall is a mall is a mall, but this one has some dramatic uses of space. The rotunda itself towers over a third floor rest area with chairs and couches, and the string of lights are positively mesmerizing. Some of the views from above down at the lower levels certainly evoke a sort of vertigo I don't usually feel. The food court on the bottom floor had way too many choices, and it took forever to settle on a 'safe' choice of fish and chips (pretty decent). We even got our grocery shopping done there; there's this real upscale grocery store, Bristol Farms, on the same level as the food court, which is an entertainment in itself. It out-Andronico's Andronico's! I even found a little wedge of goat's milk Bleu Cheese for Jeff and Karen's NYE party!

We ended up staying too late, and got locked out of the rear exit where we came in, and had to truck our groceries around the block, but survived. It gave us an opportunity to look closer at the clever xmas windows of Fox Hardware, at their chandelier made from colanders, wire whisk wheels, and other hardware parts!

Walking through the building brings up old memories: My sister Rickie and I shopping with our Grandma; taking my own kids (many years later) to Legoland during the Christmas season. My dad was an architect, now and then, and sometimes I feel a certain shared appreciation for buildings. I don't really know, as we never waxed philosophically about such things.

I feel kind of guilty, as I generally feel people who like to go to malls are like people on sitcoms, but to paraphrase Pogo,

I have met the shopper, and he is me!

I'm Not There [review]

2007-11-25T00:22:00.000-08:00

Will the Real Dylan Please Stand Up?

Now, before I get into too much of a spoiler mode, let me take a shortcut to a recommendation. If you're really familiar with Bob Dylan's songs and lyrics, and you also enjoy surrealistic art in your movies (the second half of Apocalypse Now for example), I have a recommendation for you. Just go to the movie (quickly now, it's in limited release) with some friends, then go out to dinner or a coffee shop afterwards to discuss the movie. You can come back here later to read the rest!

Welcome Back
You've either gone out and seen the movie by now, or like me, you like to read spoilers! Spoilers? It's not like a whodunit, Dylan is still alive, and his story is not a secret, in fact it's deeply woven into our own culture and identity. This film's main shtick is that Dylan is played by 6 different actors, from an 11-year old black boy to Cate Blanchett. None of them is named Bob Dylan, and everything seems to be from some sort of parallel universe. We see scenes that happened in real life, sort of, but the names have been changed. We see the Newport Folk Festival of 1965, but it's not called Newport. Pete Seeger, who is not Pete Seeger grabs for the historic axe to try and cut the power cables to stop the awful noise Dylan/Jude/Cate is hurling at the audience. The scene in fact opens with the band opening fire with machine guns instead of guitars! (See? You shouldn't have read this far. It would've been a cool surprise if you could have seen it without warning!)
Chronologies are mangled, and you need to just let it happen. You may not like this movie if linear narrative is how you like things. I found it to be a reflection of our whole lives, not just Dylan's. The emotions of tragedy, of stress, triumph, loss, and heartache resonate deeply. Dylan was a one-man Beatles for a while in terms of how much pressure he was under as the 'spokesman for a generation,' a title he never wanted. I was fortunate to not know too much about the film before seeing it tonight, outside of the multiple-Dylan shtick, so it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We then hung out with our friends Bill and Lucy afterwards, discussing it. Even though we all had different levels of Dylan knowledge, we all liked it, and would recommend it. Please leave some comments below if you get to see this.

Trailer

I came to talk about the draft

2007-11-22T12:36:00.002-08:00

Do you feel a draft?
Today I was sitting around, watching football on TV, while I was listening to the traditional noontime playing of Alice's Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie. For those of you who have never heard it, I'm not going to explain it, other than to say it has a circuitous connection to the draft. It originally came out in 1967, so it certainly needs to be understood in that context.

During the Vietnam War (never actually called a war) resistance to the draft was a major anti-war strategy, sort of a way to stop the machinery of the war. I really enjoyed listening to David Harris talk about the draft when I was in college, and I remember him talk honestly about the problems of not having a draft. He said once (I can't prove this, this is from my memory) that without a draft, people would care less about the policies of our government, since their own children were not at risk.

5 years ago
On September 11, 2001, thousands of innocent people were killed in terrorist attacks, which were planned by cancerous elements in Afghanistan, a country under the control of religious fundamentalists. Notice, I didn't say Muslim fundamentalists. When the causes of the 9/11 attacks were identified, I was totally in support of a military response to what I felt were the human/cultural equivalent of tumors, tumors that could spread. This is an interesting point in time. I've always thought of myself as pretty much a commie-pinko-leftist kind of guy, but here I found some of my anti-war friends opposing the US entry into Afghanistan on some sort of absolute pacifist grounds.

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iraq (sung to the tune of "Barbara Ann")
But I'm not comfortable being in the position of agreeing with anything George W. Bush says. While I now feel comfortable with the idea of having a military, and that the service these men and women provide to our country should be honored, I think having insanity call the tune at the top of our government is no way to operate. When we entered the Iraq war so blithely, and without any plan for peace, it all fell apart.

Return of the draft
So, in the last few years, there have been calls from some minority congressmen for a return to the draft. Today's 'volunteer' Army consists of an inordinate proportion of low-income young people, who have few other options. At this point there is no real support for this idea, but it brings back that old idea of how a draft might affect our foreign policy. If we had a universal service system, with no deferments for the privileged, you can bet your booties that before we send Brett and Ashley Prepster off to war, we'll make sure it's worth doing.

Modern ending
Just like the ending of the Sopranos, I don't have a nice well-wrapped solution here. Do I want my children to be put in harm's way? Not particularly. What if it's something truly noble? Please, no hypotheticals! I guess I'd just like to know how you feel about the draft.

In The Valley of Elah (review)

2007-09-14T22:48:00.001-07:00

Elegiac Indeed

el·e·gi·ac
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or involving elegy or mourning or expressing sorrow for that which is irrecoverably past: an elegiac lament for youthful ideals.

For some reason, as I was watching this movie, this word 'elegiac' stuck in my mind. Actually, I was misspelling it in my mind as 'elegaic' but so much for my lost glory as the winner of the 3rd grade spelling bee.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, but kept wondering how many people would be bored to death, looking at the heavy lines in Tommy Lee Jones' face, and not having any exciting action scenes (well there was one cops-chasing-AWOL-suspect interlude) involving Mini Coopers or martial arts. I even imagine it could be booed in certain parts of the country just for having Susan Sarandon play a soldier's mother. It's bad enough that Tommy Lee Jones used to be Al Gore's roommate!

But here we are, reaping what George W. hath wrought, with Saddam Hussein's blustery words echoing in my mind. Before the invasion, Saddam said something like 'the Americans will drown in sand' or words to that effect. Perhaps he was right. As we pressed on towards Bagdad, the Republican Guard melted away, and we were moving too quickly to even secure a huge warehouse of ammo and explosives we found. Later on, we returned to find the warehouse empty. I often wonder how many IED's and car bombs have been powered by what we callously left unguarded. While Saddam himself may be gone, I think one could make a good case for the analogy that the US has become stuck to the tar baby in the briar patch.

If you liked Paul Haggis' Crash, you'll probably like this film. I have a soft spot for anyone involved in the production of my favorite TV series, Due South, of which Haggis was a frequent writer, director and/or executive producer.

I'm not really in the mood to list all the spoilers that illustrate the damage the war in Iraq had wreaked on the US. Some of the scenes in the film make this point in an obvious, maybe even clichéd manner, but many resonated with me hours after the film was over.

I think I've warned off those that may not like it, but I still recommend it to the rest of you. If you see it, let's discuss some of the details in the comments area below, OK?

Fear No Weevil

2007-09-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Yes Virginia, there is a silver lining!

Down South, in the town of Enterprise, Alabama, a statue was dedicated in 1919 to the the Boll Weevil, the scourge of the cotton farmer. Back in the beginning of the 20th century, many areas relied solely on the cultivation of cotton. When the Boll Weevil came up from Mexico via Texas, it destroyed much of those cotton crops. It forced farmers away from the monoculture of King Cotton, and they diversified and prospered. The city fathers of Enterprise honored the Boll Weevil, and the statue itself has a long, bizarre history. But I'm not here to talk about the Boll Weevil.

For the last 15 years, I have played bass in a small intimate worship community, we've referred to as "The Early Service." Early, because we started at the ungodly hour of 8:30 AM! During that time I have been fortunate enough to evolve and improve my skills, and have shared music making with a long revolving list of wonderful, talented people. But, one doesn't have to walk very far down the road of old clichés to find "All good things must end someday."

For a variety of reasons (we won't go into it, remember the 'silver lining' focus here?) we've been on hiatus the last three summers, and I don't think I'll be rejoining whatever it is that's scheduled in the Early Service's place later this month. Certainly there's lots of pain, sadness, and sometimes anger, but let's get back to that silver lining, OK?

With some time on our hands during the last few summers, we have played in other churches on Sundays, and also at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco. Laguna Honda is the hospital of last resort for many people, and we have been honored to play there. Sometimes there are 50 or more residents, most in wheelchairs, and they really appreciate what we do. It really puts things in perspective for us. Sometimes when we play John Lennon's "Imagine," it really hits me when we do the last verse:

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

Usually when you hear the first line of that verse, it resonates in some sort of intellectual way, but here we are, playing for the residents, many of whom literally have nothing. It's been an honor to play there.

Another thing we didn't used to do 'in the good old days' was play with Martha. Martha has always been an excellent piano player and musician, who can actually read those funny little black dots and staff lines, as well as work off the 'cheat sheets,' and helps me figure out the 'idiot chords' for songs, but hasn't been asked to help out in the past at church. Now we get to rehearse and play together, and that's what I call a silver lining.

So, what do I usually do in a case like this? What else; quote some T. S. Eliot that seems appropriate to the occasion:

Fare forward, travellers! not escaping from the past
Into different lives, or into any future;
You are not the same people who left that station
Or who will arrive at any terminus,
While the narrowing rails slide together behind you;
And on the deck of the drumming liner
Watching the furrow that widens behind you,
You shall not think 'the past is finished'
Or 'the future is before us'.

Tragic Echo

2007-07-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Coyote Pup Killed by Car

In an article today in the online Chronicle, we find that a coyote pup was killed by a car, near the site where two adult coyotes were recently killed. The article goes on to say that they also know that the coyotes that were killed were also fed by humans. It sounds like there is at least one other pup still out there. I don't know enough about coyotes, but worry for their safety without their parents around.

As independent as the coyotes seem in our imagination, just like any other animal, the babies need help to make it.

How Will the Wolf Survive?

2007-07-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Collision Course for Coyotes in Golden Gate Park

This last year, I drove to work through Golden Gate Park. There are certain joggers you'd see, and almost every day, I'd see this Dodge Caravan parked, with a big black dog with a flashing LED on its collar, surrounded by scores of ravens. I have no idea why, perhaps the dog's owner fed the birds.

I saw daily progress on this huge purple head, The Dreamer, as it was installed near the de Young.

But a month or so ago, I saw a creature by the side of the road that transfixed my attention. I pulled the car over, as the car behind me did, and I just stared at it. It looked like a real big fox, or a skinny wolf; no dog I knew had ears like that. I now realize it was a coyote.

I find myself truly absorbed when I encounter an animal that represents 'wildness' to me. That might simply mean an animal I don't normally see. Ravens, pigeons, seagulls, and blackbirds are familiar enough, but even then I will stop to look if they are especially close. I always watch the hawks roosting on top of streetlight poles in the city, as they look for gophers and such. (Boy, I could really use a gopher-hungry hawk in my front yard!)

But this coyote was something else. Here was the classic 'wild dog,' roaming around our artificially engingeered, but beautiful, Golden Gate Park. And now, we read in the paper the sad news that a pair of coyotes has been killed after they had attacked some dogs in the park.

I think everyone is sad about this, some people are angry because they feel the coyotes 'were here first.' From what I can tell, I can't really fault the actions taken, as these coyotes had pretty much sealed their own fate by getting too close to our civilization. While doing a little background research for this post, I found an especially prescient article in the Department of Fish and Game website about the need to keep wild animals wild. The headline of this article, printed some time ago, reads: "Wild Animals Ruined, Even Killed, by People’s Carelessness!" This article was written last November, but sounds like it was taken out of the morning paper:

Coyotes play an important role in the ecosystem, helping to keep rodent populations under control. They are by nature fearful of humans.

If coyotes are given access to human food and garbage, their behavior changes. They lose caution and fear. They may cause property damage. They might threaten human safety. They might be killed.

Relocating a problem coyote is not an option because it only moves the problem to someone else’s neighborhood.

Help prevent deadly conflicts for these beautiful wild animals.

Just like the people who build their houses closer and closer to the wild areas are on a collision course with Mother Nature in the form of wildfires and cougars, these encounters can inevitably lead to tragic outcomes.

I think we look to wildlife with some sort of subconscious longing for something we've lost in exchange for the comforts of civilization, and seeing things like coyotes in the park, red foxes near the beach, or peregrine falcons raising their young in the heart of the city gives us some sort of hope.

The Big Lie, Chapter...Whatever

2007-07-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

<-- Scooter Libby scoots away without any hard time.

Am I dreaming? Can this really be happening?

Numero Uno: George W. and Dick Cheney consider themselves above the law in an executive order signed by Georgie himself, both saying they are not covered by this order. It's a presidential order Bush issued in March 2003 to cover all government agencies that are part of the executive branch. But, incredibly, Cheney and Bush refuse to comply, and nothing happens! No consequences!

Numero Dos: Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby is convicted of a felony in the Valerie Plame Affair, and Bush commutes the sentence (2.5 years in prison) so Scooter doesn't have to pay for his crimes, crimes that Bush said would be paid for!

I don't mean to display too much naïveté here, but the relativistic attitudes that coexist around what would seemingly be a slam dunk are just stunning. I guess this just shows how powerful Cheney is as impeachment insurance. Why impeach Bush, when all we'd get is Cheney to replace him?

Support Our Troops

2007-05-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different:

Recently, a friend of mine was showing me some photos she took of an Iraq War vet with his artificial leg. While I can't show you the photos for privacy reasons, it did get me to thinking about the cost of war, and what it means to "Support Our Troops."

As a science teacher, the main tenet of my teaching is the TANSTAAFL concept, which stands for:

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."

In science this relates to The First Law of Thermodynamics, the conservation of energy. I think it's a pretty good rule to live by in many regards. Honest accountants know that the true cost of many actions is not always what is advertised, but adds up based on all the consequences. In war, money is not only spent on guns and bombs, but is spent on repairing the damage to our soldiers and society as well.

Currently, we don't seem to be able to break out of the linguistic gridlock about the definition of what "supporting our troops" actually means. The president seems to feel that any attempt to reign in the blank check he feels he's been given is somehow not "supporting the troops." Congress conversely seems to feel that sending the troops off to die in the crossfires of a civil war we've unleashed isn't very supportive either.

So, what we have here is the analog to this classic National Lampoon cover. If we don't buy Bush's War, we are against the troops. This is such a false choice. I'm an old anti-war peacenik from the Vietnam era, but I have come to respect the sacrifice soldiers make for our country. We don't live in a stateless world, and until that day comes where we have no borders, we will need people to defend us. So many soldiers have lost their lives, and so many more have practically sacrificed their souls, all betrayed by a Commander-In-Chief with the big lies. On one hand we have budget deficits, tax cuts for the rich, huge contracts in Iraq for Halliburton and the like, and we juxtapose that with a rat-infested Veterans Hospital. Military families are living near or below the poverty level, and benefits to the veterans seem perpetually at risk. If we are to ask these young men and women to do whatever it takes to protect us, we owe it to them to make sure what they are dying for makes any sense at all, if there is such a thing.

Supporting our troops means we don't put them in harm's way as an instrument of policy, but only as the last resort.

click on the comic below to enlarge:

Ain't Nothin' Wrong With a Big Cathedral

2007-04-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

On the occasion of the 15th (possibly the last) anniversary of the 'Early Service,' I shared a poem I wrote many years ago. It was inspired by a more intimate, small group style of spirituality. I got the idea when I was on the N Judah, cruising past a big cathedral, Saint Anne of the Sunset, on my way downtown.

Nothing wrong with a big cathedral
Nothing wrong with a place so grand
But all I need is to be with my people
To hug a friend, to shake a hand
So I'll tell you something
Tell ya what I found
When we stand together
We stand on sacred ground
On sacred ground

Wherever two or more are gathered
Wherever two or more are gathered
Wherever two or more are gathered
There is love love love
Love love love
We got love

It's All a Dream We Dreamed

2007-02-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

one afternoon, long ago

sol·ip·sism
n. Philosophy.
The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.
The theory or view that the self is the only reality.

Some say solipsism was the disease of the 20th century, or at least that's what they said back in the 20th century. This radio station I'm writing about is so narrowly focused, it almost seems like some kind of personal dream, made just for me. I have no idea how many others relate to it like I do!

There has been a very strange thing on the AM dial recently in the Bay Area. KTRB has moved its 50,000 watt transmitter from Modesto to the Bay Area, and has been 'testing the transmitter' by playing exclusively (with some exceptions) music of the classic San Francisco Sound bands. There have been no commercials, only these odd, often tacky promos about how they don't know what format the station will be playing. One friend described it as KFRC (oldies station) for aging hippies. Perhaps he's right.

It's an odd experience to drive around the City, and hear Quicksilver's "What About Me?" followed by "The Fool," their big closing track from the first Quicksilver album. I don't think I'd heard the song in decades, and there it was, wafting into my car on tinny AM frequencies. I have heard it a few more times since then, and it still amazes me how powerful this band was at one point. "Pride of Man," "Dino's Song," and even "Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder!"

The other morning on my way to work, I heard the Airplane's "Comin' Back to Me," and was immediately transported back into my bedroom at my parents' house in Cupertino, in 1967, listening to my GE portable stereo, with maybe a bayberry candle burning for mood. This haunting song hasn't been on the radio in what seems like forever. Could this really be happening? Could I be driving through Golden Gate Park on a dark misty morning listening to this song?

I realize I've been here before.
The shadow in the mist
Could have been anyone--
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

And in typical fashion, I have heard this song several times since, but it still sounds beautiful. I love "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" but why don't I ever hear this song anymore?

They even played "Masked Marauder" from Country Joe and the Fish's first album, a short cinematic instrumental. I wrote a poem in high school based around my impressions of this song. About all I can remember now is some line I wrote about the "Stranger that everyone knows" coming down from the hills. Great tune. Barry Melton was definitely as hot as anyone back then on guitar. He became a lawyer over 20 years ago.

When Moby Grape's "Omaha" explodes out of my car radio, their potency and intensity puts them in a special class. There's something almost punkish about the music, but simultaneously virtuosic (is that a word?) And to think this album also contains the extremely short "Naked if I Want to."

Can I buy an amplifier, on time
Well I ain't got no money
But I will pay you before I die

One of the things I have enjoyed is the lost art of playing 'sets' of artists. In a galaxy far away, in KMPX/KSAN land, if the DJ felt like it, you could hear 2, 3, or more songs in a row by the same artist. No media consultant told them they couldn't do it. I have heard "Children of the Future" going into "Quicksilver Girl" and then maybe into some live Steve Miller track I didn't even know ("Evil?")

I have heard "White Bird" now and then over the years, but once again, how could I get tired of this? It's a great "car song" and I always flash back to returning home from the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in my parent's Mustang, driving through a 'tunnel of violins' (the multitracked end of the solo section) with my sister Rickie and Bill, a college roommate. Summer of '69 indeed!

KTRB has been playing lots of big Janis hits, but also some great tracks you don't hear anymore, like "Bye Bye Baby" from the first Mainstream LP. Looking at the crude album art takes me back to seeing it for sale in the store window of a record shop on Haight St. when it was released.

I know it may be hard for some of you who know me to hear this, but they might play a little too much Dead. I like the song, but hearing "Hell in a Bucket" just doesn't seem right in this milieu. Otherwise, it's been good, driving around, cruisin' to tunes, and hearing "Morning Dew" off the first LP whilst traversing Golden Gate Park.

There's been more, and I will be sad on the day I turn my radio on, and find something else coming out of 860 AM, but for now I will take the time warp, and be glad for the good times.

And yes, I have been blessed to hear "Box of Rain" too:

It's just a box of rain
I don't know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
or leave it if you dare
But it's just a box of rain
or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long long time to be gone
and a short time to be there

The End of Boondocks

2006-12-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

The Hot Spot

I have really enjoyed Boondocks over whatever period of time it's been, and am sad to learn the author has decided not to continue with it. For about 6 months or so, the papers have been running old strips, and finally when it became clear it was not coming back, the Chronicle has stopped with the reruns. I have still been looking at the reruns online, and found this as the last one for two days running. Coincidence?

It seems like the strips I always like best over the years, Odd Bodkins, Doonesbury, Calvin and Hobbes, Boondocks, and more, seem to pull the plug on a voluntary basis. (Remember, Doonesbury went on hiatus for a while too) I'd like to hear from others about favorite strips that stopped. The symbolism of this old strip with the Seinfeld reference might be interesting to discuss also!

Modern Murrow

2006-10-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

In one of those happenstance moments, I decided to follow a link posted in one of my favorite online communities, and found Keith Olbermann, railing against the Military Commissions Act just signed by George W. Bush. I strongly urge you to put aside 8 or 9 minutes of your busy life, and watch/listen to the video clip at this address:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/

I don't know how long MSNBC leaves their links up, but I also snagged a link to the text of his remarks:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/display/1/displaymode/1098/

I was floored after watching this. Yes, perhaps Keith has watched Edward R. Murrow clips a bit much, but it turned positively gripping as he kept nailing W for his sins, with a very real sense that Olberman himself could be punished for merely speaking this truth to the twisted, corrupted power that passes for our current government. Sometimes it's hard to believe we are living in such times. I keep thinkig about that old Gerald Ford quote "Our long national nightmare is over," hoping the Democrats will put aside their self-destructive ways, take Congress back, and impeach the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks out of Georgie Boy.

So please, I'll stop writing now, so you can bank up a minute or two towards viewing this clip.

Review: The Best of Youth

2006-08-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Mysterious Serendipity

At the end of June, two DVD's arrived in the mail from Netflix, that I have no memory of ordering. This may sound like a story of someone getting drunk and ordering something on the Home Shopping Network, and not remembering, but honest, it wasn't like that! Sometimes I do just quickly add something to my queue if the laptop is near, and someone (personal friend, tv, or radio talk show host) passionately recommends something. I have seen some nice films in just such a way, but I always at least remember ordering it, even if I don't remember why.

So, here I am, looking to see I have two 3-hour DVD's on the way to my house, and I have never heard of this before.

So, first thing I do is check out Roger Ebert's review. This is what really caught my attention:

Every review of "The Best of Youth" begins with the information that it is six hours long. No good movie is too long, just as no bad movie is short enough.

This seems so obvious now, but I had never heard it put this way before, and my interest was further piqued. One of the things I have found in the last year or two is how important patience is. Patience is more like being in synchronicity with the flow and rhythm of life. As a musician, it's important to not be in too much of a hurry in the middle of song. Don't rush into the next verse before you're done with the last one!

This movie was originally shown on Italian TV in four 90 minute segments. I don't know if I could have sat in a theater for 3 hours, twice, for one movie. Having the DVD's here allowed us to watch as much as we could, when we could. The movie is essentially a family saga, with a long story arc, from 1966 to 2003. The cinematography was beautiful, and the stories never dwelled too long in any one place. We came to care about the characters, and finally tonight, when it was over, I was sad there was nothing left to unfold.

You may have noticed I have said very little about the plot of this movie/saga. If you really want to know, there are many reviews, and many spoilers about this movie. It is not a secret, this movie has won awards, and the little man in the Chronicle is jumping out of his chair! So, take a chance, check it out. If you have a Netflix account, rent it now!

[note: as usual, it's nice to get some discussion in the comments area, and you may not have seen this movie yet. Down the line, if you do see it, try to remember to come back here and share your opinion. If it sucks, say so!]

The Other Side

2006-06-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

Poof! It's finally over!
But it was really just the beginning

After all the brouhaha of the last year and a half, things are strangely silent. I have my teaching credential, I'm done with a year of teaching, and I'm unemployed. Thus the picture of the astronaut drifting in space!

After a few years at part-time substitute teaching, I entered the Secondary Education Credential program at San Francisco State University in the Spring of 2005. In the first semester, only one of my professors was older than I was.

For a while, I split my time between trying to stay on top of my school work, observing classes at a local high school, and putting in time at my office, trying to keep it going by fits and starts.

Not that I had a lot of choices of what to do, but it was definitely the pattern for the next year and a half: mediocrity in all things. I was burning my candle at at least three ends!

All the while, it's been hard on my family too, which should be kind of obvious. I'm making a career change, which in the long run should be a better move, but in the short run has added enormously to my stress levels.

After the first semester, someone at San Francisco Unified asked one of my professors to recommend science and math student teachers who might be interested in getting paid to teach, instead of the normal unpaid student teacher semester, and I, along with many of my classmates gave her our names.

I ended up taking a part-time job at a 'dream school,' against the better judgment of SFSU, and my normally one-year program was turned into a 3 semester program. I taught one class of chemistry, which I was technically qualified to teach, and one class of 9th grade Earth Science, which I was initially unqualified to teach. I eventually passed the required subject matter competency test, but basically tried to stay one step ahead of the students all year. Mediocre indeed!

In my Dream School, it was very racially segregated. 70-80% Latino, maybe 15% African-American, and almost no whites or Asians. Over forty years ago, I read Up the Down Staircase, and was hooked on the romantic idea of 'saving' kids, and turning them on to education. I'm not saying I don't still believe it's possible, but the forces that keep kids away from academics are far bigger than just what the teacher dishes out. Like I've been saying, I feel I've been mediocre this last year, and look forward to next year, when I know I will be a much better teacher, but I doubt I will be able to 'save them all.' But you never know where you might have some influence, so you have to keep planting seeds, and hope they will find fruitful soil.

I stumbled through my first semester, then on into my second semester, where I had to finish this gawdawful thing called a 'Candidate Assessment Portfolio' (CAP) where I showed how I reached all 13 of these 'Teaching Performance Expectations' (TPE's) which seemed to be written by committee. I had a formal supervisor from SFSU, and an in-house observer appointed at the school. I tried to please them all, but probably none, and probably less than pleased at that! The politics of school is something I am quite naive about, and put my foot in it several times. I took sick days just to finish this CAP thing (I've never drunk so much coffee in all my life!) and straggled to the finish line. I was very emotional at the end, and doing things like make my normally rude 9th graders pose for an end of year picture with me:

After our last SFSU class, we just hung out for awhile, chatting with each other. We were almost in a state of shock, knowing that there were no more classes to attend. We would all be off to our separate schools and such.

Here's a pic of me and Brandon, my best buddy through it all, that afternoon. He's less than half my age, but we were a good team when we worked on projects together.

It kind of reminds me of childbirth. Not that I have the same memories as Martha of course, but it was very intense for me too. Those memories tend to fade, and get replaced by all that life offers and takes from you. This has been one of the most intense, and painful periods of my life, but hopefully, this too shall be covered up by future sedimentary memories to come.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
-T. S. Eliot

Angry Blogger

2006-06-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Suicide Secrets

2006-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I was wrapping up what I figured would be my last blog post before the end of Spring Break, and I noticed there were a couple of fire engines and a bunch of police cars just a few doors down the street. It was a slow day, and I wasn't properly dressed, so I just poked my head out the front door to see what was going on. I didn't really know what was happening until later, when a neighbor rang my doorbell.

What I was told was the stepfather of a girl my daughters had grown up with had died by suicide. I was pretty floored, and remembered when this girl's father had died of a heart attack over a decade ago. The heartache was huge.

I don't have anything clever to say here, but would like to call on the small community of people that read these musings to share what they know about suicide. Is is something that takes over a person suddenly? Should anyone have seen this coming? The family is completely at a loss to explain why this happened. So, please consider sharing your experiences or knowledge about this tragic subject.

Thanks,
Geoff

Join the Uranium Hexaflouride Revolution!

2006-04-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

This must be a dream.
[I just couldn't resist working this photo of the dancers into a blog!]

Here we see Iranian dancers at a ceremony, supposedly holding capsules of UF₆ in their unprotected hands. I have nothing against Iranians, my mother was born in Tehran, and I have found most Iranians I've met in my life wonderful people. But I can't believe this image of heroic dancers lifting a vial of poison in the air, with a backdrop of white doves, doesn't land just a little oddly with most Iranians. It's like a cross between some old Soviet-era propaganda poster and a Coke or Pepsi commercial. What was the Pepsi revolution all about anyway?

So, without further irony, or tounge-in-cheek:

at an April 11th ceremony:
"At this historic moment, with the blessings of God almighty and the efforts made by our scientists, I declare here that the laboratory-scale nuclear fuel cycle has been completed and young scientists produced enriched uranium needed to the degree for nuclear power plants Sunday," Ahmadinejad said.

"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he told an audience that included top military commanders and clerics in the northwestern holy city of Mashhad. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some stood and thrust their fists in the air.

Can George W. Bush's scripted speeches in front of soldiers, extolling how he is bringing freedom to the Middle East, seem any less bizarre to Iranians than this scene may look to some of us?

The Immigration Illusion

2006-04-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

Which title sounds better to you? "Undocumented Worker" or "Illegal Alien?"

When you watch the news, count how many times you hear each phrase. Which one do you think strikes more fear in the average TV viewer? There are a lot of conflicting truths, but I rarely hear a word about the "Illegal Employers."

The other night, Jesse Jackson was the guest on the faux-news "Colbert Report" and was being hammered by Colbert's right-wing persona about immigration. What Jesse kept saying was that "these people were sent for." If you think about it that way, it seems kind of odd to only blame the "illegals" and not the people who provide the jobs to bring them over here. I'm not saying it's OK with me to cross a border without permission. Until the day comes when every world citizen has the same rights as privileges, borders are a practical necessity. I just find some people's indignation about immigration a little odd, when they are probably not that removed from someone who hires a gardner, nanny, or cook. We all probably have a favorite restaurant we like to go to, and we probably don't think too much about who's working in the back, cleaning the dishes, and cooking our food.

American citizens work abroad, but we don't expect them to behave like they're not Americans. But somehow when we ask people to come work here, we also want them to wave American flags too. Today, at major demonstrations, the word was put out to demonstrators to put away the Mexican flags, and only wave US flags. A smart, if somewhat cynical move.

In the last dozen years or so, we have become used to a low annual inflation rate, but at what cost? We buy lots of cheap items made in China. Are we willing to pay American citizens to do the same work as those Chinese? If we make the Mexican workers apply for citizenship, pay taxes and fines, and learn English, how much more will we have to pay to have the leaves blown off our lawns?

This is much more complicated than any 40-second news bite can swallow. Do undocumented workers take American jobs? Definitely. Do they also use public services such as health care? For sure. But once again, this reminds me of the burden the employers are shirking, just like the de facto reality of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart pays their workers so little, that that the employees can't afford healthcare, and end up using the public emergency services for their health care. The public picks up the tab for Wal-Mart that Wal-Mart should pay. In the case of the illegals, we all pick up the tab for their services that should be paid by any conscientious employer.

No wall can be built high enough to keep people out who are 'being sent for.' If we can stop illegal hiring, the number of illegal aliens would shrink dramatically. That is, of course, if you're willing to pay a little more for a head of lettuce.

Dear Senator Feinstein,

2006-01-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,

There are many reasons to oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He is extremely right-wing in his views and rulings, but I encourage you to protect us from at least 20 years of his rulings on our precious Constitution, and filibuster if need be. He has shown contempt for Congress and the American people by sidestepping the issues, and not answering the questions when it suited him. What was particularly troubling to me was when he refused to call Roe v. Wade "settled law" and instead called it an "important precedent." He felt this showed he had an open mind. Does this mean that if the issue is murder, or torture, he will also have an "open mind?"

Please Senator Feinstein, I know the Republicans have the votes, but if you stick with others, we can extend debate, until at least a time when we can get some answers. Please, I beg of you for the sake of my children, do what you can to stop him from joining the Supreme Court.

Thank you kindly,
Geoff Gould
San Francisco

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

2005-12-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Do we "Invent the future that we want to face?"

I think New Year's Eve is a great time to look back and look forward, while we sit on the imaginary tipping point of time. This year, we even have an extra second of time to do that! This blog has been a very personal journey for me, and some of you have contributed some nice comments from time-to-time. What I'd like to do is to encourage you to speculate here about the future, or ruminate about the past. Maybe a year from now it would be interesting to look back at this.

The world that revolves directly around me
This last year has been one of the hardest in my life. Going back to school, where only one professor has been older than me, has been definitely a challenge. I can't pull all-nighter's like I could when I was younger, and the ideal of modern education seems to be some sort of all-in-one superhuman, who writes pulitzer-prize-winning lesson plans every day, connects meaningfully with about a dozen different types of students, and still has time left over to grade papers, get professional development, and still have some sort of life. Not very possible. I have basically had to settle for some sort of 'enforced mediocrity' that gets me by. I want to do better, and have to hope it will get easier with time. Which brings me to the present.

The SFSU semester has ended, but my key science-teaching class is incomplete, and I have a few papers hanging over my head. I return to teach my high school science classes on Tuesday, wrapping up their semester in a few weeks.

How does 2006 look from my selfish point-of-view? Provided I can survive student teaching this next semester, finish my SFSU classes, get my CPR certificate, pay the filing fees, etc., I would hope to be a full-time science teacher somewhere in the Fall.

Zooming out to the macro
We all exist in so many orbits, so I'm just going to zoom out to the big picture politically, and what I see in 2006. We have witnessed an ongoing coup these last few years, that most people still won't admit to themselves the extent to which we have been conquered, as if by aliens in some corny science fiction movie, or more like the Bizarro World out of Superman Comics. When I was growing up, the Jetsons promised us a world where humans would live in leisure, since robots would be doing so much work for us. This dream of a utopia has been turned upside down, and anyone who thinks this way is a discredited commie-pinko. Unless you're some kind of trust funder, anyone who expects to exist without working is some kind of welfare slacker, or worse, a Trekkie. Our public schools are under attack, Social Security is under threat of being pillaged, and our way of life depends on slave labor and undocumented alien labor. The people who are running our government, under ordinary scrutiny, would be in prison for treason, but instead are being handed medals. This all brings me to what I think the big, big story of 2006 will (or should) be.

The Congressional elections of 2006 could be an historic turning point in history. I hold out hope that people will see the Emporer hath no clothes, and give Congress back to the Democrats, who will stanch the bleeding, and, dare I hope this much, initiate impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush. But the forces of control will not give up without a fight, and will do their best to keep the web spun that distracts us all. Either way, I expect a major struggle. America is supposed to be about the positive aspects of pluralism, the defense of minority rights, and these are exactly the things the new American Taliban are attacking.

Fasten your seatbelts, 2006 is going to be a bumpy ride!

Please, consider sharing your predictions below.