POWER...

IN THIS POST

FORCE AGAINST FORCE

-NATURE

-POLITICS 

-HUMAN FOIBLES

WHERE THE CREEK MEETS THE SEA

     Santa Rosa Creek, which flows from the highlands of the Santa Lucia range, is a primary water source for this area of the Central California Coast.  Here it makes its grand spring entry into the Pacific at the famous Moonstone Beach.

The image above is looking east, toward Cambria, the direction from which the Santa Rosa Creek flows.

The rain swollen Creek has come to the sea with enough force to erode Moonstone Beach and create mini canyons.  As the season turns to summer, the power of the Pacific will remodel the canyons to a smooth shoreline again. 

HOT TOPICS

Reporting and producing for as long as I have has nicked me with the need to sound off from time to time.  Maybe it is self defense.  I'm thick skinned so let me know what you think.

WIKI LEAKS

IT IS NOT A CLEAR PICTURE

     I've filed many Freedom Of Information requests over the years.  I tend to believe most of what our governments do should be transparent.  There are exceptions.  

     Case in point-Gene Cretz.  He has been our Ambassador to Libya, the first since 1972.  He is in trouble because of the Wiki leaks of the State Department cables.  He authored a cable about Moammar Gadhafi where he noted the leaders reliance on a voluptuous Ukrainian nurse.  Part of his role was to observe and report on Ghadafi and he was doing so when he described the strongman's personal proclivities.  

     It is foolish that Cretz should be in trouble for doing his job, and for communicating in a completely appropriate way.  This is a case where the leaks have created a casualty, needlessly.   Our State Department and Intelligence officers need to communicate with clarity and without worry about how a working document, a work process, or a report may appear to a wider public, including in the case of Cretz the Libyan government.  These communications were part of a larger picture and were intended to be pieces of information to help finalize understandings and perhaps eventually policy positions.

     In this case the leaks did damage and compromised the ability of the US to understand the behavior of an unstable world leader.

SUNSET FOR A SAILOR-CUT ADRIFT

     I can't defend, nor even explain, the behavior of US Navy Capt. Owen Honors who performed a series of comedy sketches on the USS Enterprise, but the US Navy

is pathetic and inept in the way it has handled the matter.

     The performances were more than three years ago and the Navy is taking action only now that video tapes have been made public.  Three years after the fact.  It leads me to conclude the Navy believes Capt. Honors behavior was fine, until it became public.  There are a lot of problems with that reality.  If Capt. Honors is sacked, then so should several officers who were his superiors.  Honors may have been inappropriate, I'll leave that to you to decide. But I think the Navy is being chicken shit!

IT'S NEW AGE

THE AESTHETE VS THE ACTION HERO

     Jerry Brown has taken office as Governor of California in a mostly quiet way.  There was no big inaugural bash.  His first order of business was a strong message that sacrifices will be necessary and hard choices and decisions need to be made to bring the budget under control and to revitalize the state.  Arnold Schwarzenegger said much the same thing when he took office.

     There are differences between the men and their style.  Arnold was a big operator with lots of staff.  Brown is coming back almost like a single Ninja in comparison.

Arnold talked about action, action, action.  One of Brown's first actions was to remove

Arnold's cigar smoking tent in the plaza off the Governor's office.  Stay tuned.