How deeply is he despised?

 left coast lamentations

   We had been a woman entrepreneur, an ad agency employee, a college professor, a jazz and big band trumpeter and a journalist.

     We are California voters. We were figuring the odds, like millions of US citizens are doing. What combination of ticket will carry the popular vote and perform well in those "key" precincts and counties that tab up the electoral college.

    Well read, well informed aside, there is still indecision about for whom to cast a primary vote. We handicapped each candidate's value and appeal.

    With tracking polls being what they are, we wondered if Bernie wins the most delegates, will the Democrat party coronate or karate chop him? Would Bernie's appeal bring those one time "abandoned, ignored, forgotten" Democrats who voted instead for Trump, to their senses?  Would Berniecrats back another Democrat?

     What is Super Tuesday likely to produce and portend?

     Oh, and the conversation also swung to visas and length of stay in EU nations, the price of housing and such in sane nations where the great ignoramus and his fascism are despised.

shoving mike in front of the bus

        I first knew Mike Pence when he was a radio talk show host and failed congressional candidate. The earlier Pence was a more genuine article. Once he took right wing and pro life money, he got squirrelly, but they bought his way onto more radio stations and after a few tries he finally got elected to congress.

     After a few terms he was marinated and lusted for power. His run for governor was part of a strategy to make a presidential run.

     By most accounts, he was a miserable governor and embarrassed the state and even the portion of the Indiana Republican party that continued to produce brain waves. (Remember they were the party that "primaried" a Lion of the Senate" Richard Lugar.)

      Those Republicans with the function of reason were thinking about throwing Pence over after his first term. But the great ignoramus called.

      The nation has seen the kind of VP he has been. It got worse for him when the stable genius grabbed him, like body armor, a human shield, and made him the point man. If anything goes wrong with the COVID-19 strategy, Mike takes the fall.

       After 3 years of being a yes man, Pence is now anointed as the scape goat. Pence gave Trump what he demands, loyalty. Trump pays him back, true to form while he lies to us about the public health threat and while making it all about himself, just "another attempt to remove him" from office.

       I wonder if Mike despises the idiot monarch too?

reaching for a metaphor

     A child on a felled ancient tree, and the mind runs, to ideas like legacy, consequence, and meaning. 

     The climate, the gig economy, the remnant hatreds of race, identity, the prospect of well being, the changing nature of work, defending privacy, even defining privacy are among the under currents of demographically relevant issues in this 2020 election. 

     As much as any of those may touch us, their latent significance will bloom in more profound ways, after most of us have left the arena.

     All I can mutter is our political system needs a generational transfusion, and a new field of developing and equipping candidates, but most vitally a new way of thinking about the ideas and the ideals that underpin our way of doing politics and government. The first thing that should go, is money. There are more important factors that need to be the influencers and drivers. Maybe we could start with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

a trip up the coast

 Wilderness and nature are always a good antidote.

 The Big Sur wilderness is like the mothers milk of creative thought and respite.

a corruption of spirit

   McClatchy journalists have led the reporting on a story that symbolizes how broken and morally corrupt a government that operates amidst greed, big money and perverted ideology can be. That government is the US and the case in point is K2.

    K2 is the Karshi-Khanabad base in Uzbekistan where US forces were housed, even though it was known the abandoned base was contaminated with cyanide, blister and nerve agents.

    7 thousand US forces were assigned duty at K2 between 2001-2005. McClatchy has verified that chemical, nuclear, and biological officers tested the facility three times in 2002 alone. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld knew he was assigning troops to a dangerous posting.

    Today hundreds of those veterans have been diagnosed with cancer and chronic illnesses. Now they struggle with the Veterans Administration to even recognize their illnesses are connected with their tours of duty at the dangerous base. 

     Ponds of water at K2 were so contaminated they were called "Skittles" because they glowed with bright colors, like the candy. 

     The troops were abused by command decisions that further endangered their lives, even as they were already in a combat position. When a nation permits decisions like Rumsfeld's and the approval he had from Vice President Dick Cheney, it is morally corrupt. What Rumsfeld and Cheney did and approved is criminal. It goes on the list of other criminal and corrupt actions that duo perpetrated.
     It is the moral failure of all of us to permit these veterans, and others who have been injured or become ill while in service to us, to be denied anything but the best care and attention.
     There is much to despise about those things we permit or have done to undermine the principles and ideals that coalesced in the experiment of some 244 years ago.
     This election cycle is an opportunity for a desperately needed curative. It begins with thinking and is founded on honesty. 
      

    See you down the trail.

     

Which Turn on the U.S. Political Road?

an old and less traveled road

between Templeton and Cambria

recovery or precipice

     Wise analysts remind us we should never say never in politics. What is true today can change in a flash, or a tweet.

      During decades of reporting, I considered politics the greatest American spectator sport. It is not so great anymore, but we are all governed by the tawdry game. The great parties are in tatters, unsure of their future. Citizens demand a better system. The nation is divided, depressed, angry and must make hard choices. 

      Politics has become a profession, attended to by an industry of consultants and specialists; opposition researchers, analysts, pollsters, communication directors, fund raisers, etc. and it all comes down to money. Consequently the government we have given ourselves has been commercialized. Follow the money. It is all about money. H.L. Mencken was right "In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advanced auction of stolen goods."  The complete quote will follow below in this post.

      Regardless, we must live with and endure the consequence of the government and those we elect to govern and those who feed, fuel and whisper in their ears.

into the woods we go

     Despite the invocation of the seasonal cliche' this election is the most important ever, the November mid-terms will have significant impact on where we head. It is the starter's gun for the 2020 Presidential election and the life altering fall out that follows. The mid-terms also have a more immediate importance to this presidency, the investigations, and the discord in America.

the big circus

     What does it mean to be a Republican? What does it mean to be a Democrat? I've posted previously on the irrelevance of such, though those who self identify, and those of us who live under their rule will pay attention as both parties try to find either their soul and/or a standard bearer. Who will be their Presidential candidate?

     Before we look at the possible choices and scenarios-

the democrats right turn

and its consequence

    Here are some unknowables, but worthy of pondering. What if Al Gore or Gary Hart had won the Democrat nomination in 1988 instead of Michael Dukakis? More importantly, what if Jerry Brown or Paul Tsongas would have won the 1992 nomination instead of Bill Clinton? 

    Gore and Hart had Washington experience and were wiser in the wonky ways of budgets, defense programs, technology and yes social entitlements. But, the big chip is the 92 nomination of Slick Willie over more liberal candidates of Brown and Tsongas.

     Clinton and his DLC, Democratic Leadership Council, were all about moving the Democrats toward the right and steering away from the leftward lean of the 60's, 70's and 80's. 

    John Kerry might have been able to move the party back to the left. The death of Ted Kennedy also created a lack of a leftward steering wind in the party. But Clinton's tenure and later Hillary's influence pushed the Democrat party right and into the laps of big money, big business and resulted in NAFTA, repeal of Glass-Steagall, and tried to rewrite Democrat ethos. 

    It also allowed Republicans to abandon their once centrist views and to pander to the right wing, one issue zealots and their kook fringe. As we know they fed that cousin they kept under the basement stairs until it got strong enough to eat and dismember the traditional Republican party. Remember the slew of old line Republicans who retired or who got caught up being "primaried" by the Tea Party/Liberty Caucus?

     People who consider Barack Obama a liberal are caught in this kind of psychological optical illusion. It was created by the Democrats move to the right and the Republican move to the extreme right, populated by self-centered philosophy, that in turns makes Obama look liberal by comparison. That or people simply don't know what they are talking about, and are disconnected from history and knowledge. Bernie Sanders may be liberal, Barack Obama was not. Clinton was a major enabler of big money influence in and on government. Clinton took the Democrat party to bed with forces liberal Democrats and old Democrats warred with.

     Since Clinton the U.S. "center" has moved right and we even have populations that cheer and celebrate bully authoritarianism. 

the hard scrabble trail ahead

     Both parties now face a challenge and who they select, and how they do it will have influence on the nation as well as the parties, long beyond the 2020 Presidential race.

the democrats

      The Democrats are at odds, more so than usual. Modern Democrats have frequently resembled a knife fight or rumble but now they have deeper issues. It is my take they must also resolve generational leadership issues as well as determine what they believe. Is lashing together coalitions to take precedence over advocating social agendas, defense policies and etc? 

       Soon we will begin to see the Democrat talent show as we watch a leader emerge. Who will the Democrats turn to? At this writing the list of potential contenders is long.

--Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

--Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

--New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

--Conn. Senator Chris Murphy

--Former NY Mayor Bloomberg

--Former Atty. General Eric Holder

--Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe

--Former Mass. Governor Deval Patrick

--New York Senator Kirsten Gillenbrand

--New Jersey Senator Cory Booker

--California Senator Kamala Harris

--Mass. Senator Elizabeth Warren

--Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders

--Former Vice President Joe Biden

And there are others who have been getting attention.

--Montana Governor Steve Bullock

--Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro

--Col Governor John Hickenlooper

--LA Mayor Eric Garcetti

--Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley

--Washington Governor Jay Inslee

--Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz

   The debates, forums, town halls and speeches will provide a context for the nation to watch a tone, policy and approach begin to emerge. That will help to shape and form what this new iteration of the party may become. 

   I suspect one of the toughest matters for Democrats is how to absorb, accommodate or perhaps dismiss the kind of insurgency we see in candidates who identify with Democratic Socialism, non traditional or radical approaches.

   I anticipate more of that in the years ahead. By nature of this force, Democrats may steer again toward liberal thinking. 

the republicans

     The Republican party is in tatters. The speaker of the House resigns from government because he cannot discipline the party and especially the disruptive liberty caucus. The Senate is playing footsie with the occupant of the White House as crazy and malicious as he is. They are in the sway of a Shakespearian tragedy. They have sacrificed their decades of value on foreign policy to lay down with a Russian stooge.

      Think how the world would be so much different and the enmity in the US so much less if John Kasich, or Marco Rubio or even Ted Cruz had won the nomination. Speculate even if one of them had defeated their reviled Lady Hillary.

A much different reality emerges.

       The nation watches to see if the vestige of traditional Republican values will find a standard bearer to rise up and fight what even his staff refers to as the vile and mad idiot.

       Republicans could begin the road to redemption if someone challenges Trump. Possibilities?

--Ohio Governor and former Congressman Kasich

--Arizona Senator Jeff Flake

--Texas Senator Ted Cruz 

--Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse

    Our culture has a tendency to mythologize. People often look a little better when time works as a lapidary. Politics has always been rough, but we seem stuck in a phase where a sense of vision is lacking, where principle is discarded for expediency and where money rules. Perhaps these internal fights in the two major parties will lead to something better.

We can hope.

     "The state-or, to make matters more concrete, the government-consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to seek out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting 'A' to satisfy 'B'. In other words, government is a broker in pillage and every election is a sort of advanced auction on stolen goods." H.L. Mencken

   See you down the trail.

     

      

COUPLING--LANDS END--REMEMBERING ALI and GILKEY

Final Acts

    Muhammad Ali was just a bit older than Boomers but he always seemed like one of us. His life arc paralleled ours. Of all that has and will be said of him and his big life I prefer to think of his legacy as courage. He was brave, in many ways.

      After boxing he lived for a while in southern Michigan and was involved in several events and causes in the Midwest including Indianapolis. It was in this context I met Ali. Even during those few years of his mid-west residency we saw the continuing toll of the disease that robbed him of so much, yet I remember his smile, his winks and his air boxing jabs that delighted kids. He never ducked a question and he always spoke with conviction.

      If you are ever near Louisville make a point to visit the Ali Museum. The scope of his life and the breadth of his influence in the world is extraordinary.

      He was tenacious in life as he was in the ring. He entertained and he challenged us and to quote his old faux nemesis Howard Cosell, Ali "told it like it was."

      "He who is not courageous enough to takes risks will accomplish nothing in life"

                            Muhammad Ali

In the line of duty

     Condolences to the family and friends of award winning photographer David Gilkey, killed with interpreter Zabihulla Tamanna in Afghanistan.  Gilkey worked for NPR and was embedded with Afghanistan and American forces when the vehicle he was in was hit by an RPG.  

      We are regular NPR listeners and web viewers and have seen Gilkey's work as well has heard his voice when interviewed by NPR correspondents and reporters. He's won many awards for his brilliant photography. The NPR news team has been emotionally shaken by the killing of one of their own. Our hearts are heavy when  fellow journalists and news gatherers are lost in the line of duty. 

     

Matchmaking

     Who are the running mates? Speculation season is full tilt.

TRUMP AND ?

      Chris Christie

    Niki Haley

    John Kasich

      Newt Gingrich

     Ben Carson

Captain America

The Incredible Hulk

Sara Palin

HILLARY AND ?

Corey Booker

Julian Castro

Wesley Clark

Tim Kaine

Bernie Sanders

Elizabeth Warren

and others

       The challenge for Trump is to find someone who gives him credibility and acceptance. It will need to be someone with his kind of bravado, but with real experience.

        The wisest choice for Hillary may be Sanders. Why?

Because of his own appeal and his millions of followers. Anyone else is a guess when it comes to getting national votes. Sanders has proven he can ignite even more fervent support than Clinton. Some of those Sanders voters may not follow Hillary, but they likely would if Sanders were VP. The Senator has pushed Clinton. A reconciliation would be a strong plus and would give a range of Democrats cause to get out the vote. It could keep millions of Democrat voters in line.

         Still, my buddy Ray has a novel ticket suggestion-

Joe Biden and Colin Powell.  Hmmmmmm!

          Stay tuned. 

On the Edge

        Environmental campers near Lampton Cliff in Cambria are up close and personal with the Pacific, ocean breezes and soaring birds. 

      See you down the trail.

        

GOLDEN MOMENTS

    Surrounded by Gold

Series of photos around Cambria

Golden Memory

     She could not have known the affect she had baked. The first bite was as though being belted into a time machine and delivered to an address in the early 1950's.

      Since Christmas a couple of years ago a jar of genuine English mincemeat sat in the back of the pantry. Lana put it to life in pie-cobbler. No top crust, just the savory sweet and unique taste, so authentic it time shifted me. My English grandmother and her sisters made mincemeat pie when they shared a large home, very much like a boarding house, on West Jackson Street in Muncie. Most of them were widows by then and frankly their English culinary skills were not to my liking as a lad with a couple of exceptions, ox tail soup and mincemeat pie.

      It had been decades since I tasted real mincemeat pie and each taste fired synapses deep in the memory file, vividly. I could smell the various perfumes of my great aunts, hear the sounds of that big house, feel the buzz as extended family gathered for Thanksgiving or Christmas. What a sweet and naive time it was. And what a wonderful taste!

Generation Shift

      My great aunt Martha who eventually survived all the others used to marvel at the progress she had seen and told my brothers and me we would see things she could not even dream of. My mother and father also welcomed the promise of the future and new thinking. Not everyone is wired that way.

     While most of the focus has been on the candidates in this cycle there is a glimpse of the future in the supporters and that is probably most true in Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

     Trump is a sentry of the old and changing structure; Whites, mostly older white men and women, some angry, some frustrated and most frightened by the disruptive nature of the future. More about that in a moment.

      Look at the faces and age of the massive crowds that Bernie Sanders has attracted coast to coast. Young, all sex and gender identity, culturally diverse and very much at home with disruption.

      Disruptive innovation, big data and the shared economy are forces that are shredding old ways and creating new businesses, opportunities, economic models, ways of living and in essence our future. Trump's supporters have more difficulty getting their heads around such concepts. Sander's supporters are already living lives that make Uber, Airbnb, 

metadata analysis, cooperative living, Instagram news and more, a reality. 

       20 years in the future? Most of Trumps supporters will be dead. Sander's demographic strength will be the most viable political voting block in the US.

      Based on the fervent support they have given Sanders, and the ease with which millennials adapt to disruptive influence and data processed lives, the formulating will of the American electorate will be much more inclined to a Sander's vision of government than any of the other candidates in this year. By 2036 a form of social Democracy may well be the model for being elected. I think we are seeing the first signs of that in Sander's appeal to those who will be the bulk of the future.

      Boomers are a fault line. Some take comfort in the knowledge of what they know, the richness of their lives and memories. They like things as they are. New operating systems on phones or computers, new designs in cars, new music, fashion and etc are annoyances. Others are still early adopters, fascinated by new art, cinema, technology, eager to use it, unintimidated by diverse mores, excited about the appointments of shared economy, comfortable with change including the relinquishing of power. 

      At the risk of annoying friends elsewhere-the most exciting region in the US now is the bay area-San Francisco-San Jose-Santa Rosa. Technology, information, data, money, ideas, innovation, space science, energy, automobiles, medical research and application are proportionately more robust and fully engaged in the Bay Area than anywhere else. Disruptive influence, big data, new business models and new politics thrive. That too is a glimpse of the future.

     Watch the politics there, a generation shift foretold. I hope as I continue my march to old boy irrelevance I will be excited by new technology, scientific advance and can still find mincemeat pie.

Surrounded by Gold

   See you down the trail

SEEING IT & SUPERB!

Barrels with a view

Paso Robles West Side 

February Color

Political Scraps

    Regardless of the politics, you've got to feel sorry for Jeb Bush. Those who know say he's a lot smarter, classier and more capable than his brother, but he just never caught on in this year of political anger and bombast. 

     As the improbable Trump parade continues Ohio's Kasich remains the adult in the crowd.  Cruz is an extremist. If you call him a nut case I won't disagree. Rubio is the hope for many, especially the less right wing or those wearing evangelical blinders. The knock on Rubio is John Kennedy and Barack Obama- another young man from the Senate who could benefit from more vintage time.  Others see his youth as a plus.  Kasich has been on the Hill, knows the way around legislation and Washington including the military and has been a governor. He's got a more pedigreed resume.

     Sanders tenacity and the abiding loyalty of his supporters can't make up for lack of super delegates and numbers, but seems bound to keep the Democratic race interesting in the immediate future.

     Clinton has a generation gap issue and trouble with likability. Her negative numbers could be harmful in the general election.

     Barack Obama should put forth a nominee to fill the Scalia  vacancy and the Senate Judiciary Committee and full Senate should consider the nomination. That is the Constitutional way. The Thurmond Rule being sited now is complete garbage. Strom Thurmond, a bigot and racist, used the tactic against Lyndon Johnson when the fellow Democrat nominated Jewish Abe Fortas, already on the Supreme Court, to be Chief Justice. It was a political tactic and has no value. The Constitution speaks for itself-as the late Justice Scalia would say.

     Mitch McConnell should check into a cryogenic tube or should be volunteered to be the first man on mars!

    

FOR FOODIES ONLY

    Chef Jose' Dahan of the late but remarkable Cafe et Voila now does special dinners including this grand evening at Sinor-LaVallee Winery in Avila Beach. 

   The evening started with a sparkling brut rose' from Alsace. 

 The appetizer: Ratatouille, seafood bisque, duck pate' with cornichon and shrimp in mustard sauce.

  Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc

Salad: Baby wild arugula, orange, haricots verts, fennel and goat cheese in olive oil and citrus .

Entrees: Roasted rack of lamb with wild mushroom risotto and ratatouille Nicoise with garlic, herbs and Syrah reduction

  Sautéed sea bass with braised baby bok choy and fingerling persillees' topped with a creamy ginger drizzle. 

Desert trio: Citrus and Ginger creme brûlée, bread pudding with bourbon creme Anglaise, chocolate raspberry tart

  The Wines of the evening were all Jose's choice and were French-unusual in California Wine country-but we heard no complaints.

See you down the trail.

ENTERTAINED OR INFORMED?

TEXTURE

An Uncertain Road

    The road to November 8 will exhaust us but this juncture of the journey hints that something is coming true. The test of the hypothesis is Trump and Sanders.

     In lectures and addresses audiences have been told of what I call a divide between the informed and the entertained. As Americans became more media dependent,  consumption of entertainment eclipsed serious information gathering, either by book, magazine, newspaper, documentaries or broadcast news, which has morphed into something less serious, more personality and ratings driven. 

     To the point, more people "follow" Kim Kardashian than President Obama. More know her than the Speaker of the House or the Defense Secretary or Scott Pelley, Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer or Megan Kelly, even combined. 

      Teachers and professors thanked me for speaking of the eventual divide between those who are entertained and those who are informed.  Those who use media like fast food and those who seek intellectual nutrition. Consequently those who would be led and those who would lead.

       About Donald and Bernie-both are in their own way populists. This is not to demean followers of either candidate, but to draw a generalized comparison. People in both camps  fall outside these definitions, but they are exceptions to my rule. Both men seem to channel an anger, a resentment with the status quo. 

       Trump channels those who don't like government, worry about immigrants, fear federal over reach, are upset with gridlock and inaction. Trump, who offers no specifics but plenty of bombast is "the man." They are unlikely to look deeply into an issue, including Mitch McConnell's pledge to make government stop working and John Boehner's failure to make the House function, the nexus of gridlock and the failure to fund enforcement efforts to keep the money hustlers in check and out politics. Trump even brags about how he bought politicians.

        Sander's followers know the nature and genesis of "the problem" and agree with Bernie's articulation of the disparity and role of big money. Their anger is at the 1% precisely, investment banks and the way Congress has specifically rolled over for big money, in their individual PACs and wallets and to the influence that has been purchased by lobbyists and special interests who also write the legislation that becomes law.

THE CHAYEFSKY PRINCIPLE

"Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore"

        Both groups are angry. One is just mad and fed up in general. Their candidate offers no tangible solution. The other is studied, specific and understand what kind of legislative remedy is needed. In a very real sense these two populist movements underscore the point-entertained or informed? 

         We have become an increasingly frivolous nation, less well educated than historically, though we are certainly entertained. The nation is materialistic and consumption oriented, with little sense of history, exhibits poor critical reasoning skills, is more fragmented and with a dangerous lack of a sense of commonweal. We can be selfish and too often our religion is mean spirited, judgmental and exclusionary. Madison Avenue appears to have had more impact than Academia. Entertaining diversion trumps educational vigor.

       Traditional Republicans are sick that someone like a Donald Trump or a Ben Carson can be taken seriously when others with relevant experience, regardless of what people  think of them, can hardly move the needle.  Who are the wind in Trump's sail? The entertained.

       Hillary Clinton, a traditional, professional politician is being nudged, feeling a bit of the Bern. Like her or not she is the old fashioned pol in this fight. Who are the people empowering Sanders? The informed.

       Sure, there are informed followers in the Clinton camp as there are in the supporters of Bush, Christy, Paul, Fiornia, Kasich.  The sad joke however is Republicans are now reaping McConnell and Boehner's influence and that of the Tea Party. Recent Republican strategy has so empowered evangelicals, freedom caucus wackos, conspiracy theorists, birthers and the one issue mouth breathers they now have an orange haired, impolite, hate mongering, ego freak of a  clown running strong. Scary stuff when low information voters can also do more than pose for all of those weird Walmart shopper photos.

      There's a lot to be said for being informed, even if it requires using the brain and bumping up against hard questions, complex issues, challenges and difficulties that elude simple solutions or rehearsed sound bites. Gaining knowledge and being informed is not a simple as sitting and staring.
      Being upset with the way things are is a good thing. It's a start. Ideas need to follow.
     History is a relentless scribe, though it could be such a nurturing companion if we were but to embrace it.

    See you down the trail.