Excerpt from the best political essay I have read in a very long time...

I just read a great essay by Jonathan Schnell over at TomPaine.com. It was reprinted there, or rather pre-printed there with permission from The Nation magazine and will appear in the August 14/21 issue. I encourage you to make some time to read the entire article (click here). It's pretty long, and I wouldn't cut a word from it.

In the meantime, here's my favorite paragraph...
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What the true greatness -- or true power -- of the United States is or can be for the world in our time is an absorbing question in pressing need of an answer. Our very conceptions of greatness and power -- military, economic, political, moral -- would need searching reconsideration. Those true powers -- especially the economic -- also have an "imperial" aspect, but that is another debate. An advantage of that debate is that it would be about things that are real. Jettisoning the mirage of military domination of the globe that has addled so many American brains for more than half a century and also shunning the panic-stricken fears of impotence that have accompanied the inevitable frustration of these delusions, the debate would take realistic stock of the nation's very considerable yet limited resources and ask what is being done with them, for good or ill, and what should be done. Perhaps it will still be possible to shoehorn the United States into a stretched definition of "empire," but it would look nothing like Britain or Rome. Or perhaps, as I believe, a United States rededicated to its constitutional traditions and embarked on a cooperative course with other nations would find that it possesses untapped reserves of political power, though it will take time for American prestige to recover from Bush's squandering of it.
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That paragraph gives me hope for the future. Most of us who lean left and blog complain and blame. I've written and spoken before about my desire for the next President to apologize to the world and ask for another chance. But what good would an apology do? An apology, no matter how sincere, is just a bunch of words and absolutlely meaningless without action. If the corrective action is sufficient, then the apology itself becomes only a formality.

I've had roommates who, when they drank the rest of my milk, said they were sorry. I've had other roommates who, when he drank all of my milk, bought another jug of milk to replace the half empty jug they drank, saying, "I'm sorry, I finished the rest of your milk and bought bought you a new jug." Which roommates would you rather live with?

What leaves me feeling forlorn is how different our lives would be, how different our children's futures would be, and how different the world would be had we, as a nation, reacted to September 11th with something other than more violence.

Hate never did conquer hate, only love can conquer hate.

U.S., U.K., and Israel say 'No'...

...to a cease fire. That's a big 'YES' to violence and essentially a massacre. And we are responsible because we let it go on and on and on. 2008 is way too late. We need to put an end to this through protest and non-violent civil disobedience.

We vetoed a U.N. resolution for an immediate cease fire. And Bolton (a recess appointment) will probably be confirmed now?

Our House of Representatives nearly unanimously passed H.Res. 921 condemning the rocket attacks, condemning Iran and Syria (as if they were responsible) and explicitly supporting Israel's right to "self defense" against terrorism. Did everyone miss the fact that civilian deaths in Lebanon outnumber Israeli civilian deaths by ten to one? That Israel is destroying civilian targets like airports, bridges, water supplies, and power plants? Oh, and now they appear to be actually targetting U.N. monitors. They killed 4 today and the attack appears deliberate. I guess they don't want any witnesses. I hope Robert Fisk gets out OK.

And Condi and King George say they don't want a cease fire because it isn't a long term solution.

Remember back when Jake cut his finger? Yeah, looking back on that, I guess it was wrong of us to apply direct pressure to control the bleeding because the long term solution was stitches.

(Graphic lifted from Blue Meme - link on right)

This is another one of those days when I'm ashamed to be an American.

83 degrees at midnight...

How am I supposed to sleep?

I would buy pretty much anything...

...with Paul Newman's face on it. This Summer, I am addicted to Newman's Own Lemonade. If he put out a sedan or SUV, I would buy it. If there was a Newman's Own blog, I would read it every day. I even bought the dog treats, but they were a little small for our big doggies. If he put out a bag of chocolate covered organic poop, I would probably at least try it.


They are consistently great products, gernerally organic, and all of the profits go to charity. The plastic tub that their lettuce comes in is made from corn and can be composted.

I can even overlook the fact that McDonald's uses his salad dressing.

It's just good stuff.

July Catch Up - Lauren's Birthday...

So our family tradition (2 years in a row constitutes a tradition with us as our family is relatively new) is a barbecue at Lauren and Paul's to celebrate Lauren's birthday before our 4th of July Party.

Here's Lauren opening presents...


It was a fun day at the coast. We got some sun before the fog rolled in. Paul was despondent earlier in the day because England fell out of the World Cup. but he bounced back. I was afraid we would show up and find him drunk, locked in the bedroom, fondling his Smiths records. But he was up and about and working the grill like only he can. Miles McNaught used to be my grill guru, and I learned a lot from him - I just don't have the set up for mesquite aside from the little tray on my gas grill. And a gas grill is simply blasphemy to him. Oh, and he likes it HOT - so I did learn to add hot sauce to my marinades. Now Paul is my grill guru where a barbecue is an all day affair with lots of variety. If you ever go to a barbecue at Lauren and Paul's, bring a big appetite and limit yourself when the first, second and third courses come out. Because there will be a fourth, fifth, and sixth course on the way.


It was a bunch of fun and we got to see Jeff.

MRI Freakout...

I had a mild freakout this morning. I'm still a little shaken up or I would be able to come up with some other things MRI might stand for... Like "Made Ricky Insane." You know, since they called me Ricky when I was a little boy. Well, I was never really little. But I felt like a little boy today. And today I am WAY bigger than the guy in this photo.

So, yeah, I backed out of the procedure. I got to the hospital and waited and waited. Finally a technician came up to me and said they had me rescheduled for Tuesday. Well, nobody told me. So I was a little irritated and everything to start with. Aggravated, really.

Then she led me through a series of Get Smart type doors and out to a trailer in the parking lot. There, we road a rickety freight lift type elevator up to the trailer. It felt a lot like a carnival ride - the kind where you see loose, rusty bolts and just assume the ride operators all have criminal records. So I was anxious to begin with.

Then we went inside, she gave me ear plugs, had me empty my pockets and such. And I lay down on this table and she strapped my head in some sort of plastic caller and wedged it in with these two foam disks. She asked if I was OK and I said, "Well, I'd feel better if I knew how to take this thing off of my face." And she showed me. And I tried to relax and just breathe as the table I was laying on jerkily lifted me up and level with the tube in to which I was about to be inserted. And she pushed a button and I started sliding in. I said, "Stop please. Would you please bring me back out."

And she did. And she let me free. And I looked inside and asked how far in I had to go. All the way, baby. I sucked it up and focussed on my breath. I lay back down and got strapped back in, and I felt where the release was and tried again. I got farther this time. But when the walls of the tube constricted my shoulders and arms, that was it. I had had enough and really didn't want to go any further.

All of that took maybe 30 seconds, and I am amazed at the number of thoughts and intensity of emotions I felt in that short time.

It was: [SCARED] you can do this, it is safe...it will help make you better...maybe I could do this with a sedative...you can do this...you did the Tactile Dome...you did a ropes course...just relax...just breathe...come on...Go zen...just take a little nap...don't open your eyes...OK, you opened them [I WANT OUT]...Close them and don't open them again...how long did she say? A half hour? [THIS IS NOT GOOD]...a half hour AFTER I'm all the way in...and I can't get out without this person- this stranger pushing some buttons...I can't even reach the face thing...what if she has a heart attack or something...you can CAN'T do a half hour...come on, Laurie did this, she will give you grief about woosing out forever...yeah, maybe a sedative...my shoulder doesn't really hurt that bad...machinations of Moloch! (somehow Blake and Ginsberg got in my head here) Moloch whose mind is pure machinery

And that was just about six seconds of the 30 or so. I went on like that thoughts screaming in my plugged ears ending finally with...

Nope, it's not that I can't do it - I could, no, I could, really, I am choosing not to...I am DECIDING that I don't want to do this today...no, not today, not ever, there must be something else...

"OK, please get me out of here."

And she did. And she said, "You said on your form that you're not claustrophobic."

"Well, I'm not. At least I never have been. I've done waterslides in dark tunnels. And I did the Tactile Dome, which is tight like that thing, and in the pitch black. But I just don't want to do this."

"Well, Dr. Shepherd could prescribe you a valium and you could..."

"No, it's not that, I don't think I would like it even then. I mean there's got to be some..."

"Well, Ukiah has an open MRI..."

An open MRI...

...I like the sound of that! An there's one in Petaluma.

So now I have to go see my Doctor again to get scheduled on the nice pretty happy machine in Petaluma. Looks like it's in the middle of a magical forest to me. I think I can handle that. But maybe I'll ask for the sedative just in case. And if I'm a big brave boy, I'm just sure they'll give me a sucker. Maybe even a sticker!

The thing that bugs me the most is I can't remember the last time I backed down from something unpleasant. I mean, even when I was six, I eventually jumped off the high dive. That's about the closest thing I can think of in terms of a similar feeling. And in this instance, I didn't have any control. I've always been pretty good about sucking it up and powering through painful, dangerous, or uncomfortable things. But not this time. And I need to process that.

Andromeda tonight...

I got the Andromeda Galaxy tonight. It was thrilling and disappointing at once. I tried to find it last night and couldn't. I talked to my dear friend and uber Astronomy geek Scott who told me a few important things that I took to heart that helped me tonight. First, if the stars are twinkling, there's a lot of atmospheric disturbance and that's bad for resolving faint objects. Add to that the moon was up. So I was looking for a needle in a stack of needles. He also suggested "Star Hopping." Use a star chart to identify a brigt star. Then find another nearby in the general direction of the thing you are looking for. Keep hopping until you get there.

Tonight, the stars were still twinkling, but less so. And the moon was up again and nearly full. But it set. And I star hopped. The top part of Casseopeia points to Mirach. From whence I hopped to Mu Andromedae to Nu Andromedae and then a little up from there to...


...It was blurrier than this picture. But it was Andromeda. So thrilling because I learned a new skill, and disappointing because I have a 3.1 inch refractor and, well, you just aren't going to see this...

But it was still pretty cool. I got a splinter in my foot though. So I'm going to go pull it and get some sleep. Good thing we got to keep those single use tweezers from Jake's doctor visit.

Thanks Scott!!!

HVL Security Thwarts Hidden Valley Lake Terrorist Plot

HVL Security, with assistance from the local community, has thwarted a home grown plot to stage a bombing of the levee in Hidden Valley Lake over the holiday weekend. Three suspects have been apprehended.

The plot involved using explosives to blow up the levee causing a massive flood of low lying populated areas and disrupting traffic on highway 29. Officials say the death toll could have been in the dozens and it would take the area days to recover from the economic impact of the closing of highway 29.

HVL Security Sgt., Thomas Miller said, "Their operation was in the early planning stages. Thank God we caught them before they had a chance act on their plans."

Apprehended were Jason Al-Tobias, 7, Timothy Al-Hansen, 6, and Scotty "Muhamed" Piper, 9, all of Hidden Valley Lake. "We believe we have identified and apprehended all of the terrorists associated with this attack," said Miller, "Al-Tobias was apparently the ring leader, and Piper was in charge of logistics. Al-Hansen was more of a follower and just went along with the others."

Asked how the plot was discovered, Head of HVL Security, Bill Thompson said, "Well, I don't want to give away too much information about how we gather and analyze intelligence, but I will say we picked up a lot of playground chatter that led us to believe these kids were serious. We then used human intelligence resources and one of our agents was able to infiltrate the gang, posing as an 8th grader with access to the types of explosives the group would need to carry out their plans."

Sources close to the investigation say that it was Al-Hansen's idea, but he never would have done anything without the motivation of Al-Tobias. Al-Hansen allegedly said, "What if you had like a million firecrackers and set them off all at once. It could like blow up the dam and all the water would go out of the lake and it would be like a water slide and you could just walk out and pick up all of hte fish without a pole. That would be so cool." Al-Tobias disagreed, saying, "Nah-ah, no way could you get a million firecrackers." Al-Hansen countered that he could. That's where Piper entered the picture. Al-Hansen contacted Piper who once said he "knew the guy" who could get firecrackers if Piper ever wanted them. Independent sources have confirmed that "the guy" was the undercover 8th grader referred to by Thompson.

Sally Ann Vicar, a local resident who was interviewed sad he didn't think Al-Hansen was capable of "this sort of crazy thing. But Jason is always hanging out with the older kids. He kind of identifies with the others who tip over the Porta Potties."

The three suspects are currently being held by their parents and authorities say they were not sent to bed without dinner. "We don't do torture," said Thompson.

The entire plot was uncovered and thwarted without disrupting holiday festivities at the lake which included a massive fireworks display launched from the very levee the boys intended to blow up.

Incoherent Ditties...

My wife must be ovulating because the coffee tastes like sex this morning.
I arose aroused and drank two cups in the kitchen.

The woman on the Milk Bone box
looks a little like what I imagine
an old ex of mine might look like today.
She broke my heart three or four times in six or eight places.
She can’t hurt me now, but there was a time when I was her dog.

The phone rang this afternoon and it was Jelly Donut Wholesale.
Despite my appearance these days, she had dialed the wrong number.
She said she had a sore ‘E’ and hung up.

Don’t look now, before it’s too late -
They’ve got you comin’ and goin’.
It won’t be long till they get you
Just sitting there and standing still too.

Jake Got His Stitches Out Last Week...

He was a Trooper. He said it felt weird but didn't really hurt.



We got to keep the single use tweezers and scissors. I'm gonna put 'em in our First Aid Kit - which is in the red duffel bag in the closet by the front door if you ever get hurt at my house.