November 30, 2004

Dalat

I don't have a lot of needs when it comes to restaurant dining, but I do have a few. I don't really care about the atmosphere. As long the place is clean, I'm good. I'm there for the food, not the ambiance. I also want the food to be fresh and prepared like it says on the menu. No surprises. No health hazards. And finally, I want my water glass filled regularly by an attentive waiter. That's what we're paying for, right?

Anyway, we went out for dinner over the weekend and I was completely disappointed in this local Vietnamese place in Walnut Creek called Dalat. It sucked.

When we arrived, the restaurant was full and there was a short wait, which was a good sign. The place was simple, with horrible floor to ceiling murals of the Vietnam countryside, formica tables and old style cafeteria seats. But who cares? We're here for the grub.

We ordered 3 things. Crab and corn soup. Flaming beef and prawns. Chicken and vegetable in curry sauce.

The crab and corn soup was a serious disappointment for the mere reason that the menu didn't say "Imitation Crab and corn soup". Imitation crab pales in comparison to real thing. It has no flavor and the texture, well, it's sort of like a rubber hose. Other than that it was fine.

The flaming beef and prawns was plopped down on our table unceremoniously by an angst ridden 20 something son of the owner who obviously felt he had better things to do than explain the dish which included, not surprisingly, a plate with beef and prawns, but also one with cold veggies and sauce and a third with thin, translucent pancakes. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out, but since the menu clearly stated, "prepared at your table", we had assumed this meant by the staff and not by us. It turned out that the pancakes were so sticky that they couldn't be pried apart and so we ate the beef and prawns straight up. It was tasty, but not what we expected.

The chicken and vegetables with curry sauce was a complete disaster in that it didn't show up. Instead we got beef with chicken and curry sauce. It's the sort of thing that happens when the waiter, as in this case, doesn't bother to write down the order, but relies on a faulty memory. No apologies from the owner when we mentioned it. Just a look of consternation that meant either "I'm going to flog the waiter at the end of the night" or "Don't be surprised when I spit in your curry, you foreign devil". Although, I could have misread her expression.

As a former waiter, I'm very attuned to what's going on in a restaurant. I respect the hard work of most waiters and reward them when they merit it with large tips. Often there are problems that are out of the wait staff's control and I understand that. But when the service and everything else falls way short of the reasonable standards that I have, what else can you do but protest by leaving no tip?

It's a horrible thing to do. I feel bad doing it, not just because I don't want to ruin someone's night but because it means my night was, if not ruined, at least brought down a few notches. The good news is that there so many more restaurants than there are lousy waiters.

Benefits and Things

I've gotten a few letters recently from my consulting company asking me to sign up for the "benefits" that the company offers. Since I left the Peace Corps around this time last, I'm one of the 40 million of so Americans with no health coverage, so I was curious.

I wanted to get a better understanding of the coverage, but there's no description or brochure that outlines the various options, just a list of choices with the accompanying prices. M'Kay.

Right at the top under Medical Options is UHC Choice Plus Platinum. The cost is $129.74. Sounds like a good deal, right? Then you realize that the cost is per week, not per month. How is that a benefit again?

The Weather...Frightful

Who uses that word "frightful" anymore? You can't use it for anything but winter weather because of that stupid song.

Anyway, Jennifer and I were out shopping for her Christmas tree last night. It was cold. Probably in the low 40s. Jennifer is a fair weather girl, if ever there was one. Our breath was visibile and I was joking that it was so cold my spit would freeze before it hit the ground. Not very funny, but at the time...

This morning I woke up and my windshield was covered with ice. It turns out the mercury did fall below 32F last night, which is unusual for the Bay Area anytime of year, but especially in the fall. Fucking frightful, indeed.

November 29, 2004

US bombs out in 'Geography Olympics'

Want to have some fun this morning? Head over the 'Geography Olympics' and take their quiz where the US is getting hammered by most of the counties in the world.

The test cannot really determine an accurate understanding of geography since it only requires people have to locate 10 randomly selected countries on a map of the world with the names blanked out with 200 second time limit. You could easily be given really hard countries like Guinea-Bissau or something simple like Brazil.

That said, it's interesting to note that the US is getting creamed. If you take a look at the world wide results, St. Lucia, a tiny island in the Caribbean, is in first their 158 participants averaging 69.114. The US meanwhile is in 133th with 57827 geo-quizzers scoring a paltry 54.406. Albania, Rwanda and Burkina Faso are among the countries outgunning us.

Myself? Well, I scored 90% missing only Congo, which to my defense, is a tough one since there are two in Africa. I did nail France, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Solomon Islands just to name a few. (How many people in the world can't locate France on a map?). I'd love to see a page listing each country and the percentage of people who able to place it on the map. That would be far more interesting.

YOUR RESULTS!! Your Score 90.00% United States's Previous Score 54.427% United States's New Score 54.429%

Your impact:
Congrats, you have increased your country's score by 0.002%

YOUR STATE RESULTS!!
Your Score 90.00%
California's Previous Score 50.963%
California's New Score 50.976 %

Your impact:
And you have increased your state's score by 0.013%

As you can see, I had a massive impact on the scores of my country and state, respectively.

Never Heard of Nauru? Join 'Geography Olympics' By Claudia Parsons NEW YORK (Reuters) - America may dominate the world in sports and culture but in one arena where size doesn't matter, the "Geography Olympics," the United States was 88th behind minnows such as Madagascar and the Marshall Islands.

More than 46,000 Americans have taken part in this online geography competition started by a man with a mission: Roger Andresen, who quit his job as a fiber optic engineer two years ago when he realized most Americans have never heard of Nauru and don't know Cameroon is in Africa.

Working from his home in Georgia -- the U.S. state, not the country -- he created a jigsaw puzzle with pieces shaped like the countries of the world and launched what he calls the "world's biggest ongoing geography puzzle" on the Web.

Players have 200 seconds to locate 10 randomly selected countries on a map of the world with the names blanked out.

The site www.geographyolympics.com has attracted more than 300,000 players from 179 countries so far. National rankings fluctuate throughout the day depending on the latest scores.

Topping the leader board at one point on Friday were players from Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippines and Madagascar -- three countries that won a single bronze medal among them at this year's Olympics. The United States won the most medals --103.

Among U.S. states, New Mexico led the board followed by South Carolina and Idaho. South Dakota, Maine and Arkansas were last.

"Geography is just a building block for understanding what's going on in the world," said Andresen, whose family includes Christian missionaries and who has traveled to 44 countries.

"Being the world's superpower we should be informed voters," he said. "Sitting back and not worrying about these things is terrible, and it might be why the rest of the world doesn't care for us."

The best players tend to find seven of 10 locations, he said. Americans' average score is around 5.7 out of 10.

Norway and Sweden are big players, with more than 50,000 participants each, though not very successful in 84th and 173nd place respectively.

"That's what happens when thousands of people join in (the game) from new countries," Andresen said. "Initially they're terrible, they bring down the country."

Belgium and Italy are consistently high scorers. The north Pacific atolls of the Marshall Islands were doing well in 5th place. Last place was occupied by Cambodia with an average of four out of 10 but only 253 participants.

For those who don't know, Nauru is a small island in the South Pacific.

November 27, 2004

Credit Fubar

I got a credit report for the first time in my life and, big surprise, it's fucked up. I need it apply for an apartment, so I went online to TransUnion and once I jumped through the hoops of self indentification, which included a phone call to someone in India named "Alex", I was able to login and access my credit report which included some really interesting stuff.

My current address was listed as the PO BOX in Orinda, CA that I had before I left for the Peace Corps. The only other previous address was from Atlanta where I worked for CNN from 1996 to 1998.

This was fascinating because it listed my current job at Troop, Steuber, Pasich, Reddick & Tobey a law firm that I worked for in Los Angeles in 1998 which, as far as I know, is no longer in existence.

Now wonder I couldn't "identify" myself through their website.

My FICO score was decent, 827, but it would have been much better had my two student loans, which have been paid off for more than 2 years, not been listed in both Adverse Accounts and Satisfactory Accounts. The only other listing in Adverse Accounts was for a credit card I applied for more than ten years ago, never recieved and never used and then had to fight with them to remove late fees and penalties assessed on an annual fee that the card was no supposed to have. I don't have to tell you what fun that was.

I've already started the process to fix these stupid problems with TransUnion, but I am going to have to deal with Equifax and Experian also? I fucking hope not.

November 25, 2004

Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother's House...

Well, not really because grandmother has passed on, but you get the point. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! FOUR DAYS OFF!! Whoooo-Hoooo! (well, not really either because I have to shoot a race in the SF on Sunday.)

November 24, 2004

Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me was just the movie to watch to keep anyone from overindulging at the Thanksgiving table.

Spulock's movie documents his plunge down the fast food dark side to eat nothing but Mickey D's for thirty days. His rules included trying everything on the menu, not consuming anything that McDonald's did not sell (including aspirin, which his doctor prescribed when he started having chest pains), and only "super-size" when asked.

This movie was truly disturbing. There are so many nasty things to choose from, but I will give you but a few.

*Spulock includes session with doctors and nutritionists pre, during and post consumption in which he goes from the picture of perfect health to someone who's liver was pickling and on the verge of heart failure.

*He barfs the first time he tries to get down a super sized Mac meal.

*He shows a group of first graders a series of pictures. More can recognize Ronald McDonald than George Washington or George Bush.

Hopefully no one out there in the world is eating McDonald's or any fast food three times a day (And I say that as a former employee and a shareholder). You just have to see this movie for yourself. You'll never look at fast food the same way again.

November 23, 2004

You Are What You Eat

Just in time for Thanksgiving, there's a frightening editorial in the NYT today about food, it's origins, and the ramifications that modern farming has on the quality of the food we eat.

A serving of broccoli is naturally rich in vitamins A and B, and has more vitamin C than citrus fruit. But raised in an industrial farm monoculture, shipped over a long distance and stored before and after being delivered to your supermarket, it loses up to 80 percent of its vitamin C and 95 percent of its calcium, iron and potassium. Fruits and vegetables grown organically, however, have higher levels of antioxidants. That's largely because a plant's natural defense system produces phenolic compounds, chemicals that act as a plant's defense against pests and bugs. These compounds are beneficial to our health, too. When plants are grown with herbicides and pesticides, they slow down their production of these compounds. (Even more important, from a cook's point of view, organically grown fruits and vegetables taste better - their flavors practically burst from the ground and demand to be expressed, and we chefs merely comply.)

I've always hesitated buying organic food because it's so damn expensive, even though I know it's healthier for you and will probably taste a whole lot better. There's a farmer's market that sets up on Sunday at the Library just down the street. I've been there a few times to poke around. I might have to make it a regular part of my shopping rotation.

November 22, 2004

Kitten M*A*S*H

After 5 months or so of house arrest, I finally decided to let Mak and Fil have a run around around the apartment complex. I supervised Fil because she had a tendency to drigt away to another zip code and everything went fine. Then I let Mak out by himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Mak is sort of nervous cat and this usually works in his favor when it comes to self preservation. But in his roaming around the neighborhood, he came across another cat and when he came back in the house, he was bleeding from at least three different places that I noticed. I first noticed the slight abrasion on the top of his right ear. And as I poked around his little body, I discovered all sorts of injuries. He had a little stinger on the side his head by his left ear. And he had a major gash on his belly that went through at least two layers of skin. He also had an assortment of other scratches that had already dried over.

I want to say, well, you should see the other cat, but I've been keeping Mak's talons shorn because of the internal struggle between the four cats in the house. Basically Mak got messed up. Hopefully he learned a lesson. I sure did.

I cleaned out all his wounds. Put on some non-stinging anti-biotic liquid that they gave us in the Peace Corps and started giving him a course of Clovamax because I don't want him to abscess.

He spent most of the weekend in a low key mood, literally licking his wounds. Poor guy.

November 19, 2004

Doomed to Repeat

Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiqués are belated, insincere, incomplete.

Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure.

We are today not far from a disaster. Our unfortunate troops, Indian and British, under hard conditions of climate and supply are policing an immense area, paying dearly every day in lives for the willfully wrong policy of the civil administration in Baghdad but the responsibility, in this case, is not on the army which has acted only upon the request of the civil authorities.

-T.E. Lawrence, The Sunday Times, August 1920, writing from Falluja

Is the operative word "doomed" or "ignorant"?

Thanks to Jason for the Lawrence quote.

DeLay Indictment/Conviction

Tom DeLay hasn't even been indicted and yet the House Republicans have changed the rules to protect their corrupt leader from the clutches of the "partisan" attacks of DA Ronnie Earle who's investigating Delay's role in illegal fund raising for Texas legislative candidates. This is the sort of thing American's can expect from the "values" coalition that now runs all three branches of government.

Fortunately, not all Republicans are like minded. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, part of the 1994 Republican Revolution leads a handful of like-minded conservatives who voted against the rule change.

We took a strong stand in 1994 to make clear the Republican conference would live by a higher standard than our Democratic colleagues. This was instrumental in winning a Republican Congress for the first time in 40 years and the driving force behind passing the Congressional Accountability Act in the historic 104th Congress. Today, I spoke out against the amendment and voted against it because I believe it is a step in the wrong direction.

Not that it did any good, but at least he's out there on record standing up for ethics over corruption.

What I want to know is about the possibility of conviction. Several of DeLay's associates have already been indicted so that seems a likely possibility for DeLay as well. However, it's one thing for political leaders to fight through an indictment, but another entirely if they are convicted of a felony. What happens if DeLay is convicted on felony charges? Certainly the Republicans are not arrogant enough to change the rules to allow a convicted felon to remain in the leadership, are they?

Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo is doing yeoman's work in uncovering which Repubs voted for the rule change in their secret meeting.

Nuthin' but Star Wars

Just this week I watched all three of the first Trilogy of Star Wars. It's something you have to do every so often. This time the movies I saw were not the same as the ones I had seen in the theater or the even the ones I had seen on TV or on video. These new DVDs are updated with new scenes that George Lucas has added or amended to "improve" the films and remake them the way he had originally intended.

Here's what Lucas has to say about it:

To me, the special edition ones are the films I wanted to make. Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. It's a very rare experience where you find a filmmaker who says, "That's exactly what I wanted. I got everything I needed. I made it just perfect. I'm going to put it out there." And even most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done.

I wanted to actually finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it. At the beginning, people went, "Don't you like it?" I said, "Well, the film only came out to be 25 or 30 percent of what I wanted it to be." They said, "What are you talking about?" So finally, I stopped saying that, but if you read any interviews for about an eight- or nine-year period there, it was all about how disappointed I was and how unhappy I was and what a dismal experience it was. You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it. So this was my chance to finish it.

Of course, these are Lucas' films and he can go what he wants with them, even if it rubs some fans, like me, the wrong way. I think some of the improvements, like the addition of matte paintings of Mos Eisley in A New Hope or the changing of the song at the end of Return of the Jedi are good. Almost all of the changes give the films more texture and depth. There are only two that bothered me.

The first was the scene between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt in Mos Eisley just before the Millenuim Falcon takes off on its abortive mission to Alderaan. Lucas cut this scene from the original release because the didn't have the money or the technology to make Jabba realistic, which is understandable considering it was in the mid 1970s and George Lucas was a relatively unproven commodity working on a film that the studio simply did not get. However I think it was a stroke of good luck that removed Jabba from the film because he became sort of mythic character until he was finally revelead in Jedi. The shroud of mystery has been lifted that make his appearance in the final film so outstanding.

The second is relatively minor in comparison. At the end of Return of the Jedi, when Luke is moves away from the celebrations at Endor and sees Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin in the Force, he used to see Sebastian Shaw along with Alec Guinness and the Frank Oz puppet of Yoda. Sebastian Shaw played the older Anakin Skywalker when Luke removed Darth Vader's mask. Now, instead he sees Hayden Christensen. It just doesn't make any sense. If he sees a young Anakin, why not a young Obi-Wan. He should he Ewan McGregor instead of Guinness. I know it's not a big deal, but there it is. I don't know how that could have been Lucas' original intent since Hayden Christensen wasn't even born when the first movies were made. But, whatever, there are his films and he can do what he wants with them.

These are still great, timeless films. Something about the timing( I was 7 when the first "Star Wars" came out and people were lining up around the block to see it), the casting (can you imagine Kurt Russell as Han or William Katt as Luke) and the technology were serendipitous. I will love them to the end of my days and I hope one day to be able to share them with my kids.

November 17, 2004

Out With The Old And In With The New

I couldn't figure out what was going on with the comments, so instead of banging my head against the wall, I just upgraded Movable Type from 2.6 to 3.121. It was relatively easy with a few minor headaches like exporting all my entries from the old version and importing them in the new, and updating all the templates. I still have a little work to like transporting all the "sub" pages over including photogalleries and anything on the site that doesn't naturally belong in the blog, but that can be done over time.

November 16, 2004

Comments not working

I'm not exactly sure what the deal is, but the comments are not working again. I think my site was hacked by spammers, because right before the comments konked out, the MT-Blacklist plugin that blocks "spomments" stopped working for no reason that I could find. I need to upgrade anyway. One of these days I will get my act together and move up to 3.1. Until then, if you want to comment on something, please send me an email at hechtic1 [at] yahoo.com

November 15, 2004

So Long Colin Powell

Not like it was any big surprise, but Colin Powell resigned as Secretary of State after his 4 year run. In 2000 Powell was certainly one of the most respected public figures of our time but he leaves office in a cloud of uncertainty. As the nation's top diplomat he was often hamstrung and on the wrong side of the fight against Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Probably the moment that Powell will be most remembered for is his appearance at the U.N. during which he delivered "intelligence" about mobile biological labs, amongst other things, that turned out to be false. This was supposed to be the Bush Administration's Stevenson Moment, but it turned out to be the undoing of Colin Powell.

Who knows what really happened. Was he duped? Did he take one for the team? I don't suppose we'll ever know, even when Powell's book (and who doubts that one is forthcoming?) is released.

Personally, I think he was miscast as Secretary of State. He should have been Secretary of Defense. And he should have been listened to within the halls of the Bush echo chamber. Were Powell listened to I believe that we either would not have invaded Iraq or if we had, we would have established the occupation and been out of there a long time ago. Instead Donald "Stuff Happens" Rumsfeld ignored the "Powell Doctrine" of using overwhelming force in favor of his 21st Century fewest troops necessary method that has got us stuck in the quagmire that we're in at the moment and for the foreseeable future.

Even with all the problems, Powell served as a counterweight within the administration that allowed alternate policy decisions to filter down from Foggy Bottom to the media and through them to us. With Powell gone, and Rice taking his place at State, there will be no one to openly question the ill-advised foreign policy of the Bush Administration and to place something of a check of unbridled use of American power.

I'd love to just be able to say, it's sad to see him go. It's frightening.

November 12, 2004

Makelani on the Shower Door


November 10, 2004

Take Your Liberal-Bashing, Federal-Tax-Leaching, Confederate-Flag-Waving, Holier-Than-Thou, Hypocritical Bullshit and Shove It Up Your Ass

Some Angry Northern Blue Stater fights back:

Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.

It's only going to get worse.

Full text below:

Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.

And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?

Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?

No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off.

Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.

All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.

The next dickwad who says, "It’s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.

Let’s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that’s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part.

But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes.

Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.

And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.

November 09, 2004

So it's Come to This? or "Blue" State Solution

It's hard to believe but there's some wingnut out there writing for Human Events, a right-wing fringe group that would like turn American into a pseudo-Edward Scissorhands white-bread suburbia (minus Edwards Scissorhands or anything else remotely distasteful) where no one has sex before marriage (or even thinks of sex before marriage or has sex for anything other than procreation), where everyone actually believes the world was created in six days (and might still be proven flat), and god damn it, there are no fucking homos (‘cept two pretty ladies going at it on DVD), who wants to forcibly kick out "Blue" states from the union.

Here are some of the gems mined from Mr. Thompson's stellar monograph:

As a class, liberals no longer are merely the vigorous opponents of the Right; they are spiteful enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions.

John Kerry represents 48-49% (a cancer, I know) of the voting electorate who are "enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions." Sounds right to me. I feel really bad for anyone with a progressive thought who lives in a "Red" State. We'll miss you.

The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. If you believe that recent years of uncivil behavior are burdensome, imagine the likelihood of a future in which all bizarre acts are the norm, and a government-booted foot stands permanently on your face.

There's no problem with government-booted foot on faces as long as those faces are not white. Non-whites aren't really Americans anyway, right?

If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter.

Thus, a modest proposal. Breathtaking.

I find it incredible that anyone from the "Red" side could claim, as Mr. Thompson does, the liberals are so denigrating the conservatives that their only recourse is to kick them out of the nation. Conservatives control all four branches of government. They are hardly a downtrodden minority constantly on the defense against unwarranted and insidious attack from the left.

Personally, I have thought for years, only jokingly though, that California should cede from the nation and if Oregon, Washington, and the rest of the prosperous so-called "Blue" states want to join, so be it. Then Mr. Thompson and his ilk can live in their backwards, impoverished uber-utopia and see if they like the view minus all the tax dollars that "Blue" states send to Washington (which would be part of the "Blue" state solution, incidentally) and then onto "Red" states.

We know, however, that this is not going to happen. And we know that people like Mr. Thompson represent such a tiny fraction of the populace that it's hardly worth a response. However, such people exist and must be dealt with.

BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir."

Now we get to the point. White. I guess all the non-whites in the red states would be deported. And what's this vigourously business? What does he mean by that? "Not drunk with cyberworld business development." It's drunk with any business development. It's not drunk period. It's a very sober place where much time is spent in denial of reality, facts, logic and common sense.

I love that Mr. Thompson says that the 12 countries that he deems worthy of being kicked out of the union could petition the UN and EU for foreign aid. Does he not know that California on it's own would be the 5th largest nation in the world by GDP? We produce the most agriculture in the country. We have Silicon Valley. We have Hollywood. We have Napa Valley. We have the defense industry. If we succeed. This new America will actually be defended by spitballs.


GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers.

Oooooh. Ugly, indeed. Sounds like a horrible place.

I'm beginning to think I understand. Mr. Thompson lives in, oh, I don't know, some white suburb of a major southern city, let's say, Charlotte, for kicks. Never ventures outside the small circle that encompasses his white-picket-fenced house, his office and the country club. He gets all of his information about "Blue" states and liberals from Rush Limbaugh and first hand research watching MTV, making sure to turn his head quickly so as not to be poisoned by scantily clad teenagers. He's never met or had a conversation with anyone who isn't completely like him. He has no black friends. He has no latino friends. He's never met a Jew. He's never talked to a homosexual, that he’s aware of. He's never traveled outside the USA, especially not to France, land of socialism. In short, he's an insulated, intolerant prick whom Jesus would bitch slap were Jesus capable of violence.

But don't take my word for it. Read the entire article is all its glory yourself.

Declaration of Expulsion: A Modest Proposal
It's Time to Reconfigure the United States
by Mike Thompson
Posted Nov 3, 2004

[From the author: This is an essay I've been working on for the past several weeks, updated moments ago with what appears to be Bush's final number of victory states (31) once the nonsense of provisional votes in Ohio is overcome.

As an admitted "modest proposal" (a la Swift's satiric story of the same name), it is nevertheless serious in pointing out the cancer that continues to threaten our body politic.]

Branded unconstitutional by President Abraham Lincoln, the South's secession from the American Union ultimately sparked "The Civil War" (a name that was rejected by Southerners, who correctly called it "The War Between the States," for the South never sought to 1] seize the central government or 2] rule the other side, two requisites for a civil war).

No state may leave the Union without the other states' approval, according to Lincoln's doctrine--an assertion that ignores the Declaration of Independence, which was the vital basis for all 13 American colonies' unilateral secession from the British Union eight decades earlier. Lincoln's grotesque legal argument also disregards a state's inherent right of secession which many scholars believe is found in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Meantime, America has become just as divided as it was a century and a half ago, when it writhed in Brother-vs.-Brother War. Instead of wedge issues like slavery, federal subsidies for regional business, and high tariffs, society today is sundered by profound, insoluble Culture War conflicts (such as abortion and gay marriage), and debate about our role abroad (shall we remain the world's leader, or become an unprincipled chump for the cabal of globalist sybarites who play endless word-games inside the United Nations and European Union sanctuaries?).

For many decades, conservative citizens and like-minded political leaders (starting with President Calvin Coolidge) have been denigrated by the vilest of lies and characterizations from hordes of liberals who now won't even admit that they are liberals--because the word connotes such moral stink and political silliness. As a class, liberals no longer are merely the vigorous opponents of the Right; they are spiteful enemies of civilization's core decency and traditions.

Defamation, never envisioned by our Founding Fathers as being protected by the First Amendment, flourishes and passes today for acceptable political discourse. Movies, magazines, newspapers, radio/TV programs, plays, concerts, public schools, colleges, and most other public vehicles openly traffic in slander and libel. Hollywood salivated over the idea of placing another golden Oscar into Michael Moore's fat hands, for his Fahrenheit 9/11 jeremiad, the most bogus, deceitful film documentary since Herr Hitler and Herr Goebbels gave propaganda a bad name.

When they tire of showering conservative victims with ideological mud, liberals promote the only other subjects with which they feel conversationally comfortable: Obscenity and sexual perversion. It's as if the genes of liberals have rendered them immune to all forms of filth.

As a final insult, liberal lawyers and judges have become locusts of the Left, conspiring to destroy democracy itself by excreting statutes and courtroom tactics that fertilize electoral fraud and sprout fields of vandals who will cast undeserved and copious ballots on Election Day.

The truth is, America is not just broken--it is becoming irreparable. If you believe that recent years of uncivil behavior are burdensome, imagine the likelihood of a future in which all bizarre acts are the norm, and a government-booted foot stands permanently on your face.

That is why the unthinkable must become thinkable. If the so-called "Red States" (those that voted for George W. Bush) cannot be respected or at least tolerated by the "Blue States" (those that voted for Al Gore and John Kerry), then the most disparate of them must live apart--not by secession of the former (a majority), but by expulsion of the latter. Here is how to do it.

Having been amended only 17 times since 10 vital amendments (the Bill of Rights) were added at the republic's inception, the U.S. Constitution is not easily changed, primarily because so many states (75%, now 38 of 50) must agree. Yet, there are 38 states today that may be inclined to adopt, let us call it, a "Declaration of Expulsion," that is, a specific constitutional amendment to kick out the systemically troublesome states and those trending rapidly toward anti-American, if not outright subversive, behavior. The 12 states that must go: California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware. Only the remaining 38 states would retain the name, "United States of America." The 12 expelled mobs could call themselves the "Dirty Dozen," or individually keep their identity and go their separate ways, probably straight to Hell.

A difficult-to-pass constitutional amendment, however, is not necessary. There is an equally lawful route that mercifully would be both easier and faster. Inasmuch as Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution specifies that "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union," it is reasonable that the same congressional majority may expel a state from the Union. Is there, after all, any human organization in existence (including a family or law firm) that may not disown, disinherit, ostracize, alienate or expel diabolical members? Whether the nation is purged of these 12 states via the Constitution or statute, the process of elimination must begin now, for the need of societal detoxification has waxed so overwhelmingly clear.

Examine the "Mostly Mainstream 38" and "Fringe 12." Of the 50 states, Bush won 30 in the 2000 presidential election against Gore, and 31 in 2004 against Kerry. More dramatic is the huge disparity among counties. Of 3,112 counties nationwide, Bush in 2000, for example, won 2,434, a crushing 78% majority. (In the counties composing "Bush USA" live approximately 150 million persons; in the 678 of "Gore/Kerry USA," 140 million.) Gore/Kerry denizens are concentrated in the metropolises of the East and West Coasts and those big cities on the Great Lakes or Mississippi River. Other significant pockets of ultraliberal extremists may be found in intellectually incestuous college towns and pro-big-government state capitals, along the estranged and overwhelmed Mexican border, and in Dixie's welfare-addicted Cotton Belt.

The demographics revealed by the two most recent presidential elections are radically different and have resulted in "Two Americas" (but not the simplistic "Two Americas" [one rich, one poor] envisioned by Kerry's Marxist-tongued running mate, John Edwards):

BUSH USA is predominantly white; devoutly Christian (mostly Protestant); openly, vigorously heterosexual; an open land of single-family homes and ranches; economically sound (except for a few farms), but not drunk with cyberworld business development, and mainly English-speaking, with a predilection for respectfully uttering "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir."


GORE/KERRY USA is ethnically diverse; multi-religious, irreligious or nastily antireligious; more sexually liberated (if not in actual practice, certainly in attitude); awash with condo canyons and other high-end real estate bordered by sprawling, squalid public housing or neglected private homes, decidedly short of middle-class neighborhoods; both high tech and oddly primitive in its commerce; very artsy, and Babelesque, with abnormally loud speakers.
Bush USA also is far safer, its murder rate being about 16% of the homicidal binge that plagues Gore/Kerry USA--2.1 per 100,000 residents, compared with 13.2 per 100,000 (from a study by Professor Joseph Olson, Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota).

A downsized, post-expulsion United States still would be geographically big enough (and personally generous enough) to welcome millions of authentic refugees from the ousted former states, real Americans who crave lower taxes, smaller government, safer neighborhoods, more secure borders, greater moral leadership, and all the other aspects of a markedly better society-- one that spawns harmony, not cacophony; excellence, not dependence; justice, not histrionics; education, not brainwashing; enterprise, not welfare, and Godliness, not devilishness. As for the dozen ex-American states, they could always petition the UN and EU for foreign aid. Moreover, with any good luck (or bon chance), socialist Canada would annex our jettisoned territory, eh?


Still Relevant After All These Years

Language of the 1776 Declaration of Independence that rings true today for expulsion:

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . .

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness . . .

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes . . . but when a long train of abuses . . . evinces a design to reduce them [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Language of Barry Goldwater, 1964 Republican presidential nominee that also rings true:

Sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea.

----------
Mr. Thompson is the past chairman of the Florida Conservative Union.

Ashcroft Resigns or What About Those Wolves?




The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.

Feel safer now?


The full text of the Ashcroft resignation letter is below.

Dear Mr. President:

Nothing in my life compares to the high honor of serving America as Attorney General in your administration.

The cause of justice is indeed a serious calling. Americans have been spared the violence and savagery of terrorist attack on our soil since September 11, 2001.

During the last four years our violent crime rate has plunged to a 30-year low. Under your "Project Safe Neighborhoods" the number of gun crimes has fallen to its lowest level in modern history. Drug use among America's young people has fallen and continues to fall significantly.

Corporate integrity has been restored with the work of your Corporate Fraud Task Force. As a result, United States markets have reinforced their position as the trusted allocators of the world's capital resources.

Thank you for your leadership which has made these and many other justice-related achievements possible.

The demands of justice are both rewarding and depleting. I take great personal satisfaction in the record which has been developed. The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved. The rule of law has been strengthened and upheld in the courts. Yet, I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons.

Therefore, I humbly state my desire to resign from the office of United States Attorney General.

It would be my pleasure to structure the announcement of this resignation and the ensuing transition in conjunction with you so that your administration and the cause of justice are served optimally.

I have handwritten this letter so its confidentiality can be maintained until the appropriate arrangements mentioned above can be made.

I am grateful to you for the profound honor of serving under your clear, principled leadership.

May God continue to bless, guide, and direct you and your family as you lead America forward in freedom.

Most Sincerely,

John Ashcroft

November 05, 2004

Fil Attacks!

Cat Blogging Friday: Fil Attacks


November 04, 2004

Exit Polling and a More Perfect Election

Exit polls have been vilified in American elections since 2000 and it's a curious problem that has very serious and intelligent people scratching their heads and wondering what is going wrong. I have my theories.

Exit polls are often wrong in very close elections like this one and 2000 because so many votes get "spoiled" and are not counted, unbeknownst to the voter. So when voters are approached by exit pollsters and tell them how they voted they have no idea whether or not their vote was counted or not. There's something like a 1-2% spoilage rate, higher in places like Ohio where they still use punch card ballots and that has a huge effect on the results.

I have two general feelings about this. One is that we need to do everything to possible to reduce spoiled votes. No one should wait in the kind of lines we have in this country, vote and then not have their vote counted because the system doesn't work right. Two is that I think the exit polls might be more accurate than they are given credit for. If you look at Florida in 2000, the exit polls called it, accurately in the estimation of many independent observers, for Gore. If not for Jewish grandmothers voting for Buchanan and the large number of spoiled votes in predominantly Democratic counties, Gore would have won.

The same (minus the Buchanan votes) might be true for Ohio and New Mexico this time around. There's no way to know for sure. But if you look at the evidence which is that exit polls called these states one way with the actual result the opposite and the number of spoiled votes is larger than the difference, it's compelling.

Of course, while further evaluation of the votes in Ohio and New Mexico might swing those states blue, it does nothing to address the larger issue of 3 million more people in this country voting for Bush than Kerry which Democrats need to come to terms with.

Back the subject at hand, it's unfortunate that we as a country seem unable or unwilling to do anything about the massive electoral problem in the USA. You would think that after Florida 2000 we would have done something to prevent the same problems from recurring, but he haven't. Changes have been made for sure, but not nearly enough. There's too much at stake and the country is too closely divided not to do something to ensure a more perfect election. Provisional ballots are a nice idea in theory, but in practice they are a joke. Computerized balloting is rife for fraud. And will someone please tell me why we still use punch cards in this country?

November 03, 2004

A Rough Night For the Blue Team

It was hard to watch the returns come in last night. Really hard. After leaving work in such an optimistic mood, seeing the actual results came as a shock. It's one thing for the Republicans to retain the White House, but to do it with such a huge margin in the popular vote, a difference of 3% and more than 3 millions votes, that's disconcerting. And the race for the White House was only half the story.

What's really bothersome is that a) the Republicans increased the margin in the House and it looks to me that the Democrats might not have control of the House again in my lifetime b) the Republicans increased the margin in the Senate and it looks to me that the Democrats might not have control of the Senate again in my lifetime and c) Bush got more than 50% of the vote and will perceive a huge mandate along with a more agreeable Congress to put forth his radical conservative agenda which means more tax cuts, regressive changes in social programs, rolling back environmental protection, faith-based decision making, and extremely conservative court nominees including at least one and as many as four Supreme Court judges that will change the face of the law in this country not for four years, but maybe for forty.

Democrats across the country have some serious soul searching to do. It's obvious that we cannot win with the current strategies, most notably in the South and across the Midwest. When we go into an election with so many states unwinable it makes the margin for error dangerously small. I had hoped that a Kerry presidency would make efforts to bring people together in "Red" states in a way that Bush has failed to do in the "Blue" states, but that's not going to happen now.

Democrats are in a very precarious position, it seems to me. Only a major disaster in the country is going to shift the balance of power. And while there are some psycho-liberals who would welcome something catastrophic to happen in America, I am not one of them. I want our country to succeed. I want our country to be strong. I just want it to happen in a more progressive fashion.

Life will go on.

November 02, 2004

This Pretty Much Sums It Up


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This is Really Disturbing if True



An Election Spoiled Rotten

By Greg Palast

It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by a almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls and absentee ballots have been overlooked--overwhelmingly in minority areas, like Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, where Hispanic voters have a 500 percent greater chance of their vote being "spoiled." Investigative journalist Greg Palast reports on the trashing of the election.

[more]

Democracy is Messy

Democracy is Messy
This morning at 7 o'clock I walked out of my apartment, down the stairs, onto the sidewalk where fallen yellow leaves rested in pools of water, around the corner and down the street to the local home of the Army National Guard where I was to cast my vote.

There were maybe 20 folks in line ahead of me and several more already in the 7 booths set up for voting. I had my camera and took pictures while I waited patiently for my turn to cast my ballot.

When I got to the front of the line, I was asked my name. I told them. But they couldn't find me on the list. Typical. I registered late because I wasn't sure where I was going to be living, but I called the election office yesterday to ensure that I was on the rolls. They confirmed that I was.

I didn't want to be a voter using "one of those other ballots", but what could I do? I figured I would cast my provisional ballot and then call the elections board and find out what was going on.

I filled out the pink affidavit of eligibility. When I gave it back to the bald man with the green jacket, he took one look at my name and thought he recognized it. He pulled out the supplemental voter list and, lo and behold, there I was. I was given a traditional optical ballot and went off to the booth to perform my civic duty.

Why this supplemental list wasn't in the hands of the first two people who were checking people off the rolls I'll never know. It was no big deal. There was a problem, but in the end, they got it right. It seems to me to be apt metaphor for America.

I came back to bald guy with the green jacket, gave him my ballot and he stuffed it into the ballot box which was nothing more than a cardboard box, taped around the edged for "security" with a slit on the top. It seemed so simple, way too simple. But what can you do? As long as my vote gets counted, I'll be happy.

Election Day, November, 1884




IF I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene
and show,

'Twould not be you, Niagara - nor you, ye limitless prairies - nor
your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,

Nor you, Yosemite - nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic
geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,

Nor Oregon's white cones - nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes - nor
Mississippi's stream:

- This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name - the still
small voice vibrating - America's choosing day,

(The heart of it not in the chosen - the act itself the main, the
quadriennial choosing,)

The stretch of North and South arous'd - sea-board and inland-

Texas to Maine - the Prairie States - Vermont, Virginia,
California,

The final ballot-shower from East to West - the paradox and conflict,

The countless snow-flakes falling - (a swordless conflict,

Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's:) the
peaceful choice of all,

Or good or ill humanity - welcoming the darker odds, the dross:

- Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify - while the heart
pants, life glows:

These stormy gusts and winds wait precious ships,

Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.

--Walt Whitman

The Poor Voter on Election Day

To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
To-day, alike are great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-box my throne!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong to-day;
And sleekest broadcloth counts no more
Than homespun frock of gray.
To-day let pomp and vain pretence
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain man's common sense
Against the pedant's pride.
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!

--John Greenleaf Whittier (1)


November 01, 2004

Day Lights Savings Time Blues

Am I the only who thinks it really sucks when it gets dark at 530? It's bad enough that I have spend 8 hours a day chained to a chair in a cube, but to leave the office and drive home in the darkness is depressing.

Some Jackass Hit a Power Pole and Fucked Up an Otherwise Beautiful Day

On Saturday I ventured out to Marine World, only one day before the park shuts down for the season. I got free tickets when I gave blood earlier in the month, so even though I don't ever want to go to an amusement park on the weekend, it didn't bother me that much because I didn't have to shell out 45 dollars to get in.

The place was packed. It was hard to navigate through the seas of people. Sharks patrolling. Walruses playing around. We saw the sea lion show. Cute but corny. We had lunch. We went to the dolphin show and had great seats (we got there 20 minutes early) when we found out that the entire park had lost electricity and they couldn't open the grates to let the dolphins into the show pool.

We headed into the land animal section. Goats. Prairie dogs. A trio of adorable tiger cubs. Cheetahs looking pensive. A cougar hiding in the brush. There was sort of show at the tiger pen with two massive Bengal tigers, one standard one white, showing off for little pieces of meat. Since there was no electricity, no PA, and not much of a show.

Butterflies. Kids feeding apples to pliant giraffes. People were gathering at the killer whale show and we joined them to see an abbreviated show. Awesome because we got to see Shuka in action without the "show" for the kids. The whale is amazing. Like an Idiot I didn't bring my camera.

It was at the whale show that we found out that the park was shutting down and people should head to the exit where they'd get a rain check ticket. We thought about it and decided we should probably head out as fast as possible to get ahead of the crowd, get to the car and get the hell out. But it wasn't to be.

By the time we hit the parking lot, there was already a massive line. With no option other than waiting around, we got in line with the rest of the lemmings and spent 2 hours in a slow moving parking lot. Do you know how long two hours seems when you're going less than one mile an hour? It's interminable. We got in line with the car at 5:01pm. We listened to the traffic reports and the news. We watched the sun set. We listened to Prairie Home Companion. Just after 7pm, we emerged onto city streets. It was excruciating.

It turns out that we were lucky. We could have been behind the accident on I-80 where some driver hit a utility pole and left "power lines draped across" the highway and been stuck behind blocked traffic for hours. Or we could have been one of the unlucky few who had to be rescued from the rollercoasters (none of which we were able to ride, I might add).

It's over now. Marine World is closed for the season, so we'll have to go back next spring on a weekday.

Freeway crash cuts power, leads to massive backup

Saturday, October 30, 2004

(10-30) 22:47 PDT VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) --

A traffic accident that left power lines draped across Interstate 80 on Saturday cut power to thousands of utility customers, forced an amusement park to close early and caused an hours-long traffic jam on one of the San Francisco Bay area's busiest freeways.

The 2:45 p.m. crash along the freeway's eastbound lanes backed up traffic for about 10 miles.

Power was cut to about 6,000 customers in Vallejo and American Canyon. Roller coasters at Six Flags Marine World were stopped in mid-ride, leaving some customers 20 feet in the air.

All were removed safely from the rides within 45 minutes, park spokesman Paul Garcia said.

"It was definitely an interesting conclusion to the afternoon," he said. "Thankfully, everyone was safely taken off the rides and there are no injuries to report."

Some of the park's animal shows were able to continue for a few hours, but the park closed by 6 p.m., four hours earlier than its scheduled closing.

Power was restored to all but 800 customers by 6 p.m., said David Eisenhauer, a spokesman for the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. He said they would get electricity restored early Sunday morning after crews installed a new utility pole and power lines.

Details of the crash were sketchy.

Witnesses told the CHP a vehicle veered off the freeway near Redwood Parkway and struck the electrical pole, sending the lines onto the interstate. The driver fled, but no one was injured, officer Steve Markgraf said.

The CHP diverted traffic around Vallejo and rerouted vehicles about 20 miles to the junction of interstates 80 and 680.

No other information was available about the driver, Markgraf said.

She Wins!

I saw something yesterday that I was amazing. I was assigned to shoot the Silicon Valley Marathon at the half way point on the track at Los Gatos High School. There was also a half-marathon as part of this event, so the first runners to emerge onto to the track would only be going 13.1 miles and the first runner on the track, and the winner was ... a woman. How cool is that?

Pundit Predictions

If you want to see what the pundits are predicting, mostly so you can laugh at them after the election, have a look at Real Clear Politics Pundit Prediction Round-up.

I love that Bill Kristol is calling Bush 348 Kerry 190. I can understand that he wants Bush to win. He might even looks at the polls and think Bush is going to win. But how the hell could he see 348 EV for Bush? It's just not going to happen. I will be first to email him when I hear the words "President-elect Kerry".

Registered, Finally

I didn't get my registration in until a few days before the deadline on the 18th of October because I wasn't sure where I was going to be living on election day. I called on the 18th to see if the registration made it through and the nice woman at the elections board told me that they were so overwhelmed entering newly registered voters in the system, that the only way for me to ensure I that I was able to vote was to send in another registration card. I decided not to and to trust that the system would take care of me.

I just found out that my trust was not misplaced and that I am in fact registered. (And the Crowd Went Wild!!!) So I guess I should take a look at the issues and figure out who I'm going to vote for.

The Prisoners Have Escaped

Last night when we were carving our over-priced pumpkin, Jennifer noticed that the screen door was open and my cats were nowhere to be found. I didn't freak out. Each of them has gotten out a few times since I moved to Walnut Creek, and we always recovered them without too much trouble. But never have they both escaped at the time nor this close to nightfall.

I went out to search armed with a little plastic jar of cat treats, but I couldn't find them. Anywhere. I looked around for about half an hour. Shook the treats. Whistled. But they were nowhere to be found.

I went back to the house, finished carving the pumpkin, watched some TV and went out looking during the commercials. But all I managed to scare up was some of the local cats who were charmed by the jingling of the cat treats.

Just after it got dark, I went out again and saw Mak walking towards me down the road. I went towards him, but like a little shithead, he bolted into the bushes. I coaxed him out with treats, but when I finally grabbed him there was a car coming down the road and people walking towards us on the sidewalk and Mak, who is a nervous cat at the best of times, freaked. I managed to hold onto him, but he tore into me, carving up my arms and my hands with his talons. What did I ever do to him other than keep under house arrest for 6 months?

Once I had Mak under control, I saw Fil, grabbed her and spirited them off to the apartment with Mak simpering all the way. The little shits are now safe and secure, thankfully.