This Is Funny...

I Shouldn't Be Surprised...

I actually thought the November elections... the firing(?) of don rumsfeld... the hiring of Robert Gates... the Iraq Study Group report... were signs that the insanity of "stay the course" was finally being derailed. I didn't expect george bush to have the capacity to actually do the right thing, but I did think that at least there would be a diminished energy behind the insanity allowing space for ideas that at least make some kind of sense to grow.

With the immediate stubborn resistance to the I.S.G. report... I started to get a sinking feeling.

How will this hideous creation of his finally put to death. Because of him, there will from now forward be worse problems in Iraq than we ever faced with Saddam Hussein in power. He has given our true enemies more than they ever could have dreamt of. He has delivered it on a silver platter. The situation in Iraq cannot now be made o.k. for us. Our security has been grievously compromised by his feeble mind and testosterone laden impulses. Keeping a lid on the killing and terrorism there only forstalls its inevitability... at the cost of more billions to the American taxpayer and the tragic waste of more brave American lives. Our efforts to prop up democracy in the middle east... only forstalls the inevitable creation of a government that is a danger to us and destablilizer of the region.

We are seeing how well democracy works in the middle east with the recent events in gaza. fatah and hamas have quit shooting at israelis... TO SHOOT AT EACH OTHER!!! george bush... WAKE UP!!! THAT IS democracy in the middle east!!!!! That is as good as it is ever going to get in that part of the world.

My moment of truth is coming. If he gets his "troop surge"... if the pathetic democratic congress votes billions more to continue this insanity... I am hitting the streets with the most provocative sign I can come up with. I am going to do all I can to get others to join me. Where ever there is a demonstration against the continuation of this military involvement in Iraq... I will do my best to be there. I need help and I want ideas. What can I do besides sit here and complain about it.

If there AREN'T MILLIONS in the streets ~ I am just going to shake my head and know... that we deserve the next horrible terrorist attack against us. How can I say that? Because we have let this moron deflect us from the pursuit and destruction of those who truly threatened us, given them more strength than they ever could have imagined and has "broken" our militaries capacity to truly protect us with this wasteful wanton adventurism. If there aren't millions in the streets HOWLING

NO MORE!!!

Then they either don't care enough about the security of our nation to deserve it or actually support the strengthening of the enemies that bring the attack to our doorstep. I've said it before and it makes me sad to say it again... I'm afraid we won't pay attention until the suicide bombers are in our malls.


Bush's "Way Forward" on Iraq: More of the Same
Analysis: It now looks like the President will order a troop surge. But in most other ways, it's "stay the course" so far

By MICHAEL DUFFY

Posted Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006
George W. Bush is not expected to lay out his "new way forward" on Iraq until he gives a speech on the crisis in the first few weeks of January. But there were pretty good indications this week of where the Bush team is going next on Iraq. The President sent three strong signals in the space of several days — and each suggested that he was not only sticking with his stay-the-course strategy, he was about to become more aggressive in prosecuting it. First, an Administration official told TIME.com Friday, there is "a good likelihood" that the president will endorse a surge of up to 30,000 troops when he gives his next-steps-on-Iraq speech early next month. There is no word yet on how many troops would be involved or how long they might be there. Nor is there any indication yet on what the mission would be, though the president said there had to be one and he talked this week a lot about the security of the Iraqi people. The surge has been backed by a handful of neoconservatives in and out of the government, along with some retired generals, most of whom have been over to the West Wing in the last 10 days to talk about it. It surely helps the surge faction that CENTCOM boss Gen. John Abezaid, who had publicly opposed the idea, announced his retirement this week. And Colin Powell would not have broken a year's silence on Iraq just to oppose the surge last Sunday unless he was pretty convinced it was gaining steam.

The President also went out of his way last week to say he was inclined to favor an expansion of "end strength" in the Army and the Marine Corps in general. That decision is about Iraq but is not about a surge: Bush had a near revolt on his hands from the service chiefs, who feel the Iraq deployment has depleted readiness, hurt morale and left the U.S. with only the thinnest reserves to fight elsewhere in the world. The Army chief of staff said in public that the Army was "broken" and the Marine Corps Commandant made similar complaints. Bush had to do something to ease that condition — and he knows there is support for such an expansion in Congress. While it would take several years to recruit, train and equip the new units, Bush's inclination here underscores how much damage the war has done to force structure. My own guess is that Bush will tout this expansion regularly in the coming weeks, not so much because it would do anything to ease conditions in Iraq in the the near term — it won't — but because it implies that he is mobilizing, once again re-applying his game face.

Which brings us to the last development of the week. Bush tried to make it clear in his press conference that whatever Americans' dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, next year would not look much different from the one that is coming to a close. This was, said the administration official, a deliberate warning to Americans not to expect a lot of change. "The year 2007 could bring many of the same challenges and sacrifices as 2006," he said. "This was designed to let people know we have a lot more fight left."

It was also plain to see last week that Bush's new approach on Iraq — if it can be called that — will include a diplomatic push by Secretary of State Condi Rice, aimed not at Iran and Syria, as the Baker Hamilton commission proposed, but at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How sustained an effort this is likely to be is unknowable. Nor is there any word yet on what the Bush team plans to do about the political situation inside Iraq. It appears that the new Bush military strategy is likely to look a lot like the old, only more so.

It’s A Wonderful Life

My Dad was a pretty strict disciplinarian. We were allowed to watch very little tv when I was young. He called it (rightly I have since learned) the boob tube. But back then it was a stinging mark of shame. First of all, we only had a black & white tv, while it seemed like EVERYONE else had a color one… with remote control! I remember sitting in fifth grade class and the teacher asked how much television the class watched nightly. She asked everyone to raise their hand who watched a half hour a night. I kind of sat there stunned. We didn’t get to watch television EVERY night… only a couple of times a week on school nights. Since I didn’t even meet the opening threshold I raised my hand to avoid embarrassment I was one of the few raised hands when she asked about an hour of television a night. To my stunned amazement she kept going all the way to a kid that asserted his parents allowed him to watch AT LEAST FOUR HOURS a night all the way through part of the “The Tonight Show”! On a school night!!!

Well, this was far beyond my experience for sure. When I was in junior high (this would be the early ‘70s), I was stunned that my parents let me keep an old, small, black & white portable tv that my Dad’s Sister gave to me. There were all kinds of restrictions about my watching it, but I remember one night on Christmas vacation turning it on with the volume down so low that my face was about a foot from the screen to hear it. There were only five channels in those days ~ the three networks, pbs and an independent station. I flipped through the channels and my eye was drawn to what was to an old black & white (you know how you can tell, even on a black & white tv) movie. I was mostly into detective and action programs those days, but the sentimental story kept me riveted. By the time the movie ended I had laughed, cried and was just sitting there in a blissful spiritual afterglow. I had never seen or heard of this movie before.

Suddenly I panicked.

This was in the days before vcrs or anykind of replay stuff. When something like “Bullitt” was on, you put everything on hold and were in front of the tv at the appointed hour because you never knew when you would see it again. All of a sudden I realized… “Oh no! When will I ever get to see this amazing movie again? I might NEVER get to see it again!!!

The movie was, of course, “It’s A Wonderful Life” which has been replayed every year (sometimes 24 hour marathon style) ever since.

I have just read recently that the movie flopped when it was first released, and was only resurrected on tv in the early 70s because a copywrite had lapsed and they could show it for free. It has since gone on to attain iconic Holiday status. Little did I know that night, I was just dropping down onto the face of a wave that would wash over every holiday for years to come!

December 23 Holiday M&M Level

The last mouthful...

 

December 22 Holiday M&M Level

 

Could You Imagine...

And this is a MODERATE muslim country and an "ally on the war on terror"...

Lawyer works to expose Saudi legal system
Human rights attorney takes on powerful enforcers of sharia law

By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Updated: 9:20 p.m. PT Dec 22, 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem said he had been waiting years for a case like this: A woman and her daughter, both accused of promiscuity, were followed by the morals police as they left a private residence on the outskirts of the capital.

The police, who enforce adherence to Saudi Arabia's strict religious laws, beat up the women's driver and drove off with them locked in the back of the car. When the car broke down half an hour later, the officers abandoned them in the stranded vehicle.

The police assumed that the women had been visiting male friends. But the two had been at the home of female relatives. And unlike the thousands who had previously been intimidated into dropping their grievances, they insisted on taking their kidnappers to court. The case, which goes to trial next week, will give Lahem a chance to finally confront the powerful morals police, whom he considers the country's worst human rights offenders.

A good Friend accused me of focusing on the problem, and not offering any solutions when I bring attention on issues like this. He also thought I had a resentment against Muslims. The latter may or may not be true. I do know that it is FAR less than it was years ago, when I just saw the world in terms of black and white, right (mine) and wrong (disagreement with me). I choose not to think that way anymore. If people disagree with me these days, I look at it as an opportunity to get over myself, open my mind and usually... learn lessons. What I do try to keep track of is whether or not a particular course of action an individual or group is taking... hurts themselve or others ~ if they are holding themselves back by their actions. If that seems to be the case, I try to take a principled objection to that behavior, all the while keeping an eye out for how I might be (or have been or could be) that way myself.

I don't think I am "resentful" at muslims as much as I am sorry for and take exception with the ways in which they hurt themselves, hurt others and hold themselves back that seem to be institutionalized in their belief system. I hardly maintain that we are right and they are wrong. There is PLENTY wrong with our country, society and way of life, but I guess I'd look at the relative freedoms we so commonly take for granted that are, sometimes literally, punishable by death in a Muslim society... and I'll take our way over theirs anytime. I think "spiritual paths" that try to deny and rigorously suppress our human frailties on balance cause much more harm than good to all who are subjected to it... including the perpetrators. Just because there is room for improvement in how we operate as a country has nothing at all to do with whether or not it is appropriate to take exception with the unhealthy behavior of another.

The other point I would bring up with my Friend is that by pointing out the seemingly insoluable differences our society (which is dependant upon Middle Eastern oil) and theirs (which sits on top of the oil) I am trying to be a part of the solution. We need to understand that, for better or worse, we are linked together ~ until we get off foriegn oil and likely until we are less onesided in our support of Israel, who in my opinion we support much less for any moral reason... than for the fact that they are a geopolitical counterpoint to the societies that control the oil with whom we have very little cultural intersection. Since we are linked together for now, we need to either take the oil, get off the oil, or learn to cooperate with those whose only material value in the worlds economy is that they just happened to live on top of the oil that they never would have known about or gotten access to without... us.

And that is ultimately what I am trying to point out. We need oil. And before you start talking about Bush... or Big Oil... or Greedy Corporations... and Corrupt Congress...

Look in the mirror.

We all think we aren't the problem, when the truth is ~ no matter how small, ecological or globally sensitive a footprint you try to make ~ if you live in this country... YOU are a part of the problem. Every Native American dreamcatcher you hang on the rearview mirror of your Prius... was brought to the store by something that burned oil! As you work your way up the ladder of your gentle, conscious, moral, spiritual consumption... connections just get more direct from there. You can say "I'm all for leaving those people alone... they have the right to exist... I'm not at fault... I don't want us to invade or do mean things... I want us to get off fossil fuel... I don't hurt anyone...", but if you live here ~ YOU are a part of the problem.

Since the solution is that we can either take it, get off it, or cooperate with the lucky goat herders (NOT a racial slur, just a fact!)... I am just trying to point out the challenges with the latter option. To solve a problem... you have to be willing to look at it from all sides. I am not necessarily arguing that the muslims on top of the oil are wrong, I'm just saying there is a huge gap of understanding that we have to start to bridge if we are going to cooperate with them. Part of that process simply involves an assessment of the differences, not only to search for common ground, but to at least recognize what we are up against.

One of...

The most thoughtful, right~on articles about this mess I have read...

Living the Worst-Case Scenario
A retired Air Force officer says America won’t be able to avoid playing a military role in a wider Mideast regional conflict. And thanks to the mishandling of Iraq, that’s now a near-certainty.

Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Col. Mike Turner
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 9:25 a.m. PT Dec 20, 2006

Dec. 20, 2006 - On March 11, 2003, 10 days before the first shot was fired in what is now the war in Iraq, I wrote my first commentary for National Public Radio. It asserted that the upcoming conflict was not, as many Americans apparently believed, Desert Storm II, but actually more like America’s operation in Somalia. The war in Iraq, I wrote, would be nation-building on a grand scale, a disaster waiting to happen. I pointed out that U.S. policy represented a complete rejection of the Powell doctrine, which demands a political objective before committing U.S. troops and whose validity was proven during Desert Storm. The commentary went on to paint a horrific worst-case scenario in which the United States became bogged down in a nightmarish insurgency with American troops as occupiers, isolated from allies and unable to find any credible way out.

In subsequent commentaries and articles for NEWSWEEK, I suggested the presence of fleeting moments of opportunity to change course, establish realistic goals and involve the United Nations and regional allies in a long-term solution. In June 2004, I proposed that a federation of three independent states was the most likely long-term solution for Iraq, and that the Bush administration would do well to begin to shape that obvious outcome rather than continue to adhere to its short-sighted and irresponsibly naïve “stay the course” policy. From the very beginning, far more experienced regional experts than me were saying the same things.

And now, here we are, three-and-a-half years into the worst-case, nightmare scenario, with just under 3,000 U.S. dead, over 22,000 wounded and probably well over 100,000 Iraqi dead. The bipartisan Baker-Hamilton commission has stated flatly that “stay the course” is a failure, that catastrophe is a very real possibility, and that even if the administration adopts every one of the commission’s 79 recommendations, the United States may still fail horribly in Iraq.

America and the world will long debate the causes of our remarkably predictable descent into chaos in Iraq, but I believe one enduring truth has undermined our efforts from the start. The Bush administration and Congress since 2003 have demonstrated a breathtaking inability to rationally anticipate the likely outcomes of their actions. In particular, having repeatedly failed to plan for the worst-case scenario, they have repeatedly been forced to react as those very scenarios materialized. We simply must get out in front of this juggernaut. We are now at a critical juncture that can only be successfully negotiated if America’s leaders finally begin to anticipate and plan for what almost surely lies ahead. Ironically, and perhaps tragically, the Iraq Study Group report may actually prevent such a sea change in thinking from taking place. By offering a controversial way to “fix” Iraq, the commission report has already driven the Bush administration into a defensive, myopic crouch. This is the worst possible moment for such a response, and it means the next Congress and the new secretary of defense are very likely the only effective catalysts for change remaining in U.S. government. And what must they plan for?

It seems clear now that Iraq will very likely devolve into a full-blown civil war. If that occurs, Iran will back the Shiites and Syria will back the Sunnis. Should the principal mission of U.S. forces then be to seal the borders and try to contain the internal conflict? Or, should the United States simply withdraw and allow Iran and Syria to expend their national treasure in a protracted, regional, religious war between Shiite and Sunni? Such a wider war would certainly weaken Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon, blur Iran and Syria’s anti-American focus, and fracture the global Jihadist movement, but it could also spill into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and destabilize those nations. What approach best protects vital U.S. interests? And what of the Kurds? Will Turkey and Iran tolerate an independent Kurdish state, which would almost immediately spring up as the Iraqi government collapsed? Should the United States support such a state established by the one group in this conflict which truly does align itself with Washington?

These are not easy questions. But waiting once again for events on the ground to dictate a U.S. response—particularly after the painful lessons we’ve learned thus far from this naïve approach—would be tantamount to criminal negligence and, in my judgment, an impeachable offense. It is a cliché of the times that an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would be a catastrophe. Perhaps. But I believe the real catastrophe will only occur if the U.S. continues to react blindly to short-term events in Iraq without developing a deliberative plan for long-term stability in a post-Iraq world. We need leaders in Washington, not followers. Leaders who understand that the war in Iraq has become a dangerous distraction from the far greater threat of a badly destabilized Southwest Asia and Middle East, which will now almost certainly happen. It is time for our new Congressional leaders to demonstrate the real courage of public service, rise above the political fray and demand action. Such leadership certainly won’t be found elsewhere.

Turner is a 24-year Air Force veteran and former fighter pilot and air-rescue helicopter pilot. He is a military analyst and commentator who spent seven years serving in U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon as a Middle East/Africa planner.

© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.

Got A Little Festive This Year

 

December 20 Holiday M&M Level...

Getting sicker.

Just noticed that the time stamp (which I'd like to turn off, but... haven't read the directions yet :-/) is a day off.

Hope everyone's Holidays are going Beautifully!!! 

December 19 M&M Level

Saw "Blood Diamond" tonight, and really enjoyed it. 

December 18 M&M Level

Ehhhhh! 

Well...

I got my Holiday Album cds out to family and friends at the last minute. Never again! Not the gifts, but the last minute part. The post office wasn't a nightmare like I expected... I got right in and out, but if I had mailed them last week, it would have cost $1.11 per. Because I didn't get things done in time, It cost $4.05 per. Grrrr! 

December 17ths M&M Level...

I am really starting to feel sick. I just walk by the damn thing and grab handfulls of these things. I just find it impossible to make it through the Holidays without over indulging in this handy chocolate delivery system. 

Work...

I was filling up with gas on my way out to the coast, and enjoyed a dramatic view of Mt. Tam. The fog and low clouds really do wonderful things during the winter months...

And, this is me working. Way too big a guy stuck up in a tight place. The blue in the background is a tarp we had over the whole building to protect it from the rain that was blowing in the wind...
 

3 1/2 Pounds of Holiday M&Ms

Conversion courtesy of http://www.onlineconversion.com/

I have always been an M&M freak. They came out when I was a little kid and those talking, dancing, clowning~around little pieces of candy with legs, arms and faces hit their target... I wass hooked.

I used to buy them in the school store... a bag of plain and a bag of peanut. Pretty soon I started mixing that combo, and have continued to ever since. I have not been interested in any of the other permutations of M&Ms except the glorious day when almond came out. I still continue to mix a bag of almond with a bag of plain... always have to ask for a little courtesy cup from the person behind the counter.

If they came out with Holiday almond M&Ms, I'd go that route, but for now the plain and peanut are just fine... and have been for years. They must have come out near the time I met my exwife over 15 years ago. In Any Event, we started enjoying them early in our relationship. I remember when we must have been living together, she came home with "the combo" as we called it and joyously announced the arrival of the Holiday M&Ms. We gorged upon them until we were sick and I'm sure she showed much more sense in this area than did I.

I remember hiding a mug of them up in a cabinet while I was preparing some holiday meal or something, just so I could hit them while I created. I also remember in later years getting up at about 6:30 or so on a Saturday morning, feeding the dogs and making coffee. When I came back into the bedroom with her cup, she looked at me in amazement... "Did I hear you eating Holiday M&Ms out there?" Uh, er... yes. At 6:30 in the morning.

I also remember the first Christmas after our divorce. To kind of cope with it, I got into wrapping and mailing presents to relatives. It had been a busy deadline day at work, and I got right into the task of putting the gifts and cards together all night. I remember being up at 11pm wrapping presents and finally looking at the Holiday M&M jar and not being able to put my hand back in it. My disinterest caused a brief investigation to run across my mind. That's when I realized that all I had put into my system that day... was coffee and Holiday M&Ms!!!

Back to my ex... One October she came home and with an impish joy announced, "LOOK HONEY... Halloween M&Ms!!!" What fun! We were both overjoyed at an excuse to eat Holiday M&Ms until we were sick even earlier than December. "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!" as Ren & Stimpy (our favorites) would say. An interval of a few mere weeks and the Christmas Holiday M&Ms were out, and the joy continued.

Next year we repeated the cycle, and sometime in January, she came home and with less enthusiasm than previously announced, "Look Honey... Valentine M&Ms". We still went at it, but probably only went through one batch of "The Combo".

The next year we repeated the whole thing, but in May I will never forget her coming home and announcing almost resentfully, "They have Easter M&Ms." and slapping the bag down on the counter.

Our marriage was a little on the tough side, but there are many, many endearing moments like this that my exwife provided. When she was funny... she was VERY funny!

Happy Holidays!!!

A Christmas Carol...

Merry Christmas...

Goldman Sachs will pay about 50 executives bonuses of $25 million or more.

We are such a screwed up country.

I am all for the free market system, but there is such an obscene disproportion practiced in this country that it breaks my heart.

Thank You...

Joe Biden is one of the biggest morons ever to be a senator, but even he has a lucid moment from time to time. This guy Gordon Smith is pretty dead on.

One of the things I am mad about, though is all the consternation, outrage, handwringing and demands for action from Congress after this election. As Lee Hamilton pointed out... where the hell have these people been while the rest of us have seen the obscenity of this invasions aftermath for years now. Yeah, they're all real brave now talking about "changing course", but why haven't they been hammering away about this for years? Because they are all chicken shits, that's why. They've been working their 3 day work weeks and spending all their time raising money for the next election instead of standing up for what they now all agree is right... some kind of drastic change in "our Iraq policy".

That brings me to a second point ~ "changing course" doesn't mean saying you are against the war...

AND THEN FUNDING IT'S CONTINUATION!!!

under the silly political cover that they "support the troops" and don't want to "politicize what the troops need" and all that other crap. You cannot be against this war and vote to continue it at the same time. There is one Presidential candidate who is making that point and calling for the only funding to be to bring the troops home. I have laughed at him most of my life, but I AM GOING TO VOTE FOR HIM IN 2008... Dennis Kucinich!!!

I say, support the troops by bringing them home immediately. They work for US!!! It's doesn't matter whether they want to stay there or not! We tell them to come home... THEY COME HOME!!! There is no mission for them to win anymore. It is illogical to say that bringing them home... doesn't support them. Sane people recognize that you don't honor those who have already lost their lives... by losing more lives, especially for a losing cause that cannot be reversed militarily and does nothing to further our national security!

And that brings me to point #4. The ridiculousness of the argument that Iraq will descend into a worse bloodbath than now if we leave. Yes, it will... and guess what? That is the ONLY way this is going to get solved. These people want to kill each other like nobody's business. Massacres, NOT democracy are how things are solved in the Middle East... unless, of course, there is a despotic strongman like Saddam Hussein to keep them in check. At some point, more and more sane people who can effect change in our government are going to state the obvious... this thing will only be decided BY A BLOODBATH. As horrible as that is, it will result in a "winning" side, and the kind of government iraqis want and deserve can begin to pick up the pieces. It will likely be a horrible sort of government that is a pain in our ass, destablizes it's neighbors and may well be a haven of terrorism, but guess what...

It is TOTALLY OUR FAULT for opening that pandora's box AND more American servicemen and women dying... WON'T CHANGE THAT!!! We will NEVER get the kind of government there we would like to see, and we might as well start dealing with the reality as soon as possible.

I am glad that some sanity is finally being applied to the national discourse on the foolhardiness of our post~invasion policy (which in my opinion is inextricably linked to the decision to invade in the first place), but I am furious that all of this attention and energy hasn't been a constant, loud drumbeat for years now. And point #5... I am completely skeptical that bush will do anything, but declare defacto martial law and overrule the clear wishes of the American public by, after all this... "staying the course" and "we won't lose, unless we leave too soon." I only hope that his insanity ignites a howl of protest by millions in the streets of this country that gives the democrats the backbone they don't have on their own... to do the right thing!

Holy Freakin' Toledo!!!

Blogs Are...

Useful, creative, interesting things... and then, sometimes they are just places to put random stuff of questionable value. I was on the phone with my best friend back in St. Louis. We were emailing eachother photos and then talking about them. He was watching a small clip about the Christmas lights I put up this year and I...

There Is Something...

About the battered condition of this sign...

That makes me nervous!

 

The Job Site

This is the view from the second floor of the home I'm helping to build out in Bolinas. (The ocean is just a few hundred yards behind me.) It is a part time job to fill in when I am not doing stagehand things. I am lucky to have "outside" work like this at all, but particularly at this time of year. Stagehand related work really drops off from December through February.

The beginning of this year was the worst since 9/ll for the union. I bascially only worked about 2 out of the first 6 months of this year. Hard on the pocket book, but I'll tell you what... I could sure handle being retired!!! It was great to just wake up and do whatever I wanted to do. Hard on the pocket book, though and kind of ironic that it just served to push back the day when I can actually retire. At this rate, chances are good that I am going to end up as one of those old guys who supplements his retirement income by "guarding" the paintings in a museum from the fingerprints of kids.

It's funny... I used to feel so sorry for them when I was a kid, and it might actually become my fate. Shouldn't have thought so much about it back then. Probably started some kind of karmic chain reaction.

In any event, this side job in Bolinas is Awesome!!! I drive from my sweet little town at the foot of Mt. Tam through the beautiful San Geronimo valley as the sun is rising, coffee and pastry in hand. I turn south towards Bolinas/Stinson Beach and travel though a valley that runs right on top of the San Andreas fault. The scenery is so Beautiful it is hard for me to describe. The whole drive is like a deeply Spiritual meditation on Nature.

Then I arrive at the jobsite pictured above and get to work with hands down one of the most wonderful groups of guys I have ever encountered. They are real anomalies in the construction world... cooperative, patient and appreciative of my efforts... no competitive, macho, negative energy... and each guy has a great personality and all kinds of interests and views that make the on~the~job talk a pleasure. All this while I learn more about how to build things (something I had no experience doing before 2002).

I have always tried to make the best of it, but after being dissatisfied more or less with every other job I have had in my life... this stagehand thing and my side job with the Bolinas crew is...

I just have to keep pinching myself, as I encounter work situations in which I say to myself, "I love my job... I love my life!"

p.s. Actually just joking about the museum thing... if that is what I end up doing when I "retire" ~ I'll feel the same way about that. 

Nice Sunrise

Getting to stay out at Muir Beach again and working just up the coast helping build a house in Bolinas. This is what greeted me Friday morning as I left for work.

More...

of the same. I might actually DIE if I watch the woman on the motorcycle again...

Sorry, but...

There's nothing I laugh at harder than people doing stupid things... and paying the price. To be clear, I don't feel great about laughing at the misfortune of others and see nothing funny about accidents... but there is something about the instant karma of people intentionally treading the intersection of physiology and kinetic energy that touches a part of my funny bone like nothing else.

Well, At Least They Learned Something

Now it's the Iraqi's fault...

From slate.com

The Bush administration has yet to endorse this paradigm shift publicly, but a blame-Iraqis spirit certainly informed National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley's eyes-only memo criticizing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (To read Hadley's memo, which was leaked to the New York Times, click here.) Even the normally discreet secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has grumbled,

"the security situation is not one that can be tolerated and it isn't one that has been helped by political inaction. … [T]he Iraqis as a whole, all of the government, all of the leaders, really have got to be committed to moving this process forward. They don't have time for endless debate. …"

Well documented in Thomas Ricks book "Fiasco" is that there was a breathtaking failure to consider in even the most basic terms any plan for what would happen AFTER the invasion. I haven't finished Bob Woodward's excellent "State of Denial", but the theme has been that time and time again, those advising the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State and the Defense Secretary would push information up the chain that things in Iraq were persistently dysfunctional, not getting better and that the logical trajectory was for them to get worse. These departments would send very serious people to see what needed to be done, but basically because of the personalities at the top ~ ideas were just passed around like hot potatos...

In other words, not only was there no plan going into the invasion for "post~war" Iraq, but in the face of furious handwringing, study and worry since then...

No.

Plan.

Was.

Ever.

Developed.

Afterwards!!!

Everyone just kept looking at each other, blaming, and ultimately changed nothing, because that would seem to be acknowledgement that the policy might be failing. In other words (please read Rice's quote above) they engaged in "endless debate" and failed to "to be committed to moving this process forward"!

At least they learned something out of this mess.