SPOILING THE PARTY

light on the path

Piedras Blacas Light Station-California Central Coast

        Light stations were designed to provide warning and guidance. In our own way bloggers, analysts and journalists do the same thing.

spotlight on thugs

Photo by Jim Wilson, New York Times

     The thugs above, captured by Jim Wilson only a few hours north of Cambria are another blight on the American dream. They have historic cousins.

 Public Domain/medaldrumworld.com
Washington, DC

          The first Klan march and rally I covered was 1965.

I thought the men and women who marched with their faces covered were cowards.  I think that still, regardless of the cause that puts a person in the streets.

 AllNews Pipeline
Anitfa "counter demonstrators"

      That is true for the violence prone troublemakers Antfia-or antifascists. 

       A quick and personal digression. My late brother was a political "radical" of the SDS persuasion. He was part of the "Days of Rage" and shared the Weatherman philosophy. He believed you fought violence with violence, when necessary.

       We had many long probing conversations and debates. He did not believe in starting a violent act, but he did not buy the idea of civil disobedience or non violence. A police night stick, or tear gas prompted an in-kind response. But one thing he would never do, was cover his face. He too thought that was cowardice. He marched, shouted and raged without masking himself. 

public domain
Cowardly Klansmen

       I covered many anti war and civil rights marches and demonstrations. I've been stung by tear gas, was hit on the head and knocked to the ground by a stanchion bearing a Viet Cong flag, was slammed up against a bus and kidney punched by an out of control cop who didn't want a reporter documenting his beating of people in a round up. 

     I understand the passion that put people on the front line of divisive issues. To cover your face is absolutely wrong and anti American.

    Anarchists have been a part of life around the planet for centuries. They created particular havoc in the US in the early 20th Century. Few US citizens realize how many bombings took place in those days.

    Antifa is a modern iteration; Autonomous groups that think fascism is so evil that violence is a proper recourse. They are themselves fascistic in their methods of opposing particular ideologies. They are not liberals, progressives or even left wingers. They are a self righteous band of violence prone, anarchists who see themselves as a kind of vigilante force.
     Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin has seen their influence. He says antifa gives the peaceful leftists a bad name.
      "It played into the false narrative that some conservatives have spun" about violent left wingers Arreguin told the Associated Press. He watched as antifa attacked protesters.

     Whether in klan hoods or antifa black, they are extremists who have convinced themselves direct action solves issues of understanding, education, bias, predatory capitalism, ignorance and other evils. No one who covers their face deserves respect, nor should they be permitted to further degrade an already weary democratic republic. We have problems to solve.

our heart breaks

    Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Texas,  Louisiana, Mumbai and India. For those of you with family or friends in those areas we hope you hear from them despite the heartbreaking news about loss of homes and property.

     See you down the trail.

WAITING A LIFE TIME TO SEE IT plus WHEEL TO WHEEL and WALL STREET WELFARE

Desert Blooms

    Lana said she had waited most of her life to see a saguaro cactus bloom.

   In the stretch from Phoenix to Prescott Valley and Sedona  the desert scrub is populated by the massive uprights and spears.

   Closer examination of these saguaro, that can age to 2 centuries, revealed blooms. Blossoms appear only when a cactus is at least 35 years. They grow their first arm at between 75 and 100 years.

   The blooms are short-lived and open at night during spring. The saguaro blossom is the state wildflower of Arizona.

  Other worldly and exotic they are native of the Sonoran desert in Mexico and Arizona, the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County area of California. In Arizona it is against the law to harm a saguaro.

Wheel to Wheel on the Pacific Coast Highway

    The Amgen Tour of California raced past Cambria in Stage 4-Morro Bay to Monterey-on the famed Highway 1.

   The lead of the pack as they approached the south edge of Cambria having just come up a long hill.

    Immediately the racers began to use the level stretch for changing positions.

    Just as rapidly they were past the first access to Cambria and on the way toward San Simeon, Ragged Point, Big Sur and Monterey at speeds of 25 to 35 mph. 

       Here they are just a few miles into a 133 mile stage.

    The Amgen Tour of California finishes in Sacramento.

WALL STREET WELFARE

    This may feel like a kick in the head. Oxfam America recently published a study that reveals for every dollar America's largest companies paid in federal taxes from 2008 to 2014 they got back $27 in loans, guarantees and bailout funds from the Federal Government. Once more--the top 50 American corporations pay a dollar in taxes and get back $27. Is that the kind of tax plan you are on?

      Oxfam reports that for every dollar spent on lobbying by the largest corporations they get $130 in tax breaks and $4,000 in federal loans and guarantees.

      Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam, says, "The global economic system is becoming increasingly rigged." Oxfam is a federation of groups working on poverty and economic disadvantage in some 90 nations. They've been a respected player since the 1940's.

      Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times writes that a recent study found that tax dodging by major corporations "costs the US Treasury up to $111 billion a year."  Imagine the infrastructure repair, increase in pay and benefits to police, fire and veterans and improvements to schools and teacher training and pay that could be accomplished.  Kristof notes that since 1952 the share of corporate taxation in federal revenue has declined from 32% to 11%, but as you know from your own paystubs the portion of payroll taxes has increased. 

      To paraphrase Shakespeare-Something is rotten and this time it is not in Denmark.

      See you down the trail.

CAN THEY FIND THE WAY BACK?

REPUBLICAN CONTEMPT

   The setting is the great beyond. The card players are Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

    "Say fellows, did you read what David Brooks said about the Grand Old Party?" Reagan reaches for a jellybean.

     "Well, I've got to say even though he works for that liberal Jew New York Times, he's a good man!" Nixon wipes sweat from his upper lip.

      "I couldn't agree with him more," Ike says.

      "How's that Mr. President?"

      "I'll tell you how Ronnie. Ever since that gas bag Rush Limbaugh got the holy, holy treatment from Republicans our old party has, as Brooks said, become 'bombastic, hyperbolic and imbalanced.' They remind me of the old John Birch society."

      "Let me just say I stand four square for Republican values, but these people are radicals. They're as destructive as the yippies and SDS. All they want to do is tear down government," Nixon pokes himself in the eye as he gestures.

      "Well, you know boys, Old Tip and I didn't see eye to eye on things but we still took time to visit and you know we got things done." Reagan eats another jellybean.

      "These damned fools who call themselves the Freedom Caucus don't know the first thing about freedom or the price so many have paid. It's like Brooks said, 'Self-expression is more valued than self-restraint and coalition building.' Think we could have won the peace if we didn't build coalitions or I couldn't find a way to work with Mongomery for crying out loud?" General Eisenhower stands and straightens his tie.

     Nixon stands and almost salutes Ike. "I just want to put it out there, put it on the record so to speak, that I believe in the practice of politics, the whole enchilada. Politics is America and as American as the flag. These people are anti political. They don't know how to make a deal."

      "Dick I've never doubted your ability to be a wheeler-dealer, so I'll give you credit on that.  Brooks says this have it their own way "anti political ethos produced elected leaders of jaw dropping incompetence." He's right-jaw dropping incompetence. Hell, all you have to do is turn on C-SPAN and watch some of these damned fools. Brooks is right, the Freedom Caucus and the tea party are "insurgents, incompetent at governing and unwilling to be governed. If I could I'd bust them all to buck privates and make em spend the rest of their life cleaning latrines."

       "Mr. President I want it clear that I am not in favor of these people being called Republican." Nixon mops his brow.

       "Leave it to these people and everything we worked for will disappear. None of the three of us could pass their litmus test. They are not the Republicans we used to be. They should be thrown out on their asses."

        The door of the card parlor opens and Tip ONeill enters,

"Hey Gents. I've been listening and all I can say is thank God that orange haired carnival barker is now calling himself a Republican. Dick, hand those cards to the General so he can cut the deck."

        Meanwhile back here-Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan campaigned on and worked for ideas the Freedom Caucus and Tea Party right wing fringe now reject. Ideas like rebuilding slums, "eradicating racism," attacking poverty, income inequality, low cost housing, expansion of social security, equal pay regardless of sex, support for the UN, closer federal scrutiny of mergers, better anti trust enforcement, better SEC policies, protection of employment benefit programs, federal funds to train doctors and scientists, low rent programs, environmental protection, fair immigration and citizenship programs and occasionally even a tax increase. 

        Surprised? Either memory fails you or more than likely the restricted and partisan atmosphere of the last few years has made old fashioned Republican and conservative ideas look liberal. The same is true for Democrats as they, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, have become more centrist and business friendly. Conservatism has been drubbed and so has liberalism.  

         In old fashioned "politics" the nation has been moving right under corporate sponsorship. Sociologically the US has been fragmenting by income, education, gender and sexual identity, ethnicity and aspirations.  It is harder to find the "old center" of the commonweal and as an aging democratic republic with a dysfunctional government and towering maintenance issues, we should find our way back to consensus, negotiation, pragmatic solutions and survival.

The first who get tossed out of my ship of state are the ideologues, zealots, numb skull egoists and narcissists.

EATING IN THE BARN

   See you down the trail.

WHAT IS LIFE?

DEFINITIONS OF LIFE

   Do you think it is possible to reach a place in the progression of human life where we cease to be human? That begs a number of questions, not the least of which is what is a human being?

    Nicholas Wade wrote in the New York Times of a call by eminent biologists to stop the use of genome editing that could change how human DNA is inherited. While it might cure genetic diseases it could also be used to change qualities like intelligence, physical development and more.

The scientists are concerned the technique will be used before the human race understands the ethical challenges such technology presents. Remember the old potboiler The Boys From Brazil? Imagine the bruisers the NFL could breed, for example!

     This exciting new science develops as humans continue to demonstrate a propensity to screw up and to exercise lack of judgement.

     A lawyer in Huntington Beach is a poster child of such.

Matt McLaughlin has proposed a California ballot proposition that would authorize the killing of gays and lesbians. It's a case that tests limits of free speech, but has caused a reaction that questions why can't something that would be illegal be stopped.  In the meantime some are trying to get McLaughlin disbarred. 

     So, back to the rise of amazing and fantastic science and the potential of human idiots and miscreants to get their hands on such. 

    We should never halt the progress of advancing knowledge, but we have probably reached a cross roads where ethics and implications need to be studied and weighed more arduously than ever.

     We are flirting with cyborgs as we implant new knees, shoulders, hips, heart valves and etc. A chip, placed in the brain to limit the effect of a neural and muscular disorder is a wonder, and so too is the potential of similar procedures to halt dementia. But is there a point at which we change what it means to be human?  This question is probably more relevant when considering artificial intelligence, though we are beginning to blur the lines and draw more closely to a change in the evolution of human life. Biology and nanotechnology present us with new horizons.

      There are bright minds and deep thinkers among us and they are pondering what used to be the stuff of science fiction and fantasy.  Do you think the balance of humanity is up for such deep thinking? Or are we populated by larger numbers who would rather prioritize their own desire to live longer, or to birth beautiful children, or create NBA superstars who can fly, or breed warriors who fight wars with unending force, etc?  What do you think? How should we enter this future?

POTPOURRI
An oddball assortment of images stuck in the corner file

 Spring fresh

   Palm Springs Patio mellow

  Patience at Lampton Cliff

   Hearst Castle via telephoto

 Barrel Room setting for a Zin Fest Weekend Winemakers Dinner at Le Vigne

  Wow & delicious!  

   See you down the trail.

PHOTOS AS OIL PAINTINGS-STIRRING OLD GHOSTS

ASPIRING OILS

 Not being clever enough to know why, I've noticed that a long lens capture of people against the sea takes on what I call an "oil painting" quality or texture.

  A pixelation occurs that creates an affect as though it had been rendered by a paint brush.

   It is no doubt a technical faux pas, but I'm fond of it because it indulges my desire to oil paint.  At least it permits a "composition" to aspire to an oil.

NO VACCINE FOR PTSD
Killing the Messenger

     Before you read on, please note this is a bit like a personal confession or a public therapy. 

     The film Kill the Messenger strikes a nerve and activates a strain of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

     The story is true and it points fingers at dishonorable behavior in a dark chapter of recent American history. San Jose reporter Gary Webb put together pieces that detailed how the CIA flooded South Central LA, and other American cities, with crack cocaine to fund the contra war in Nicaragua. 

      The Reagan administration couldn't get Congressional funding to fight the Sandinistas so they sold weapons and drugs to raise the money. Remember Colonel Oliver North and that saga? 

      In Dark Alliance, Webb broke the story, then the CIA fought back and broke Webb.

       It wasn't until later the true implication of Webb's reporting was confirmed. Sadly Webb did not live to see full vindication. He was dead from two bullets to the head, supposedly a suicide. Think about that for a moment.

      This film directed by Michael Cuesta, based on Webb's book and starring Jeremy Renner hits close to home. Webb's reporting was an active element during my own investigative and documentary work. It was the source of professional conversation and workshops. 
      After first playing the Webb revelations other media like the LA Times, Washington Post, New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN backed away and/or  turned on Webb. Media "elites" were played and manipulated by CIA spinners and deceit. The film sets the record straight and reveals duplicitous and cowardly behavior. Webb's reports and the reaction they created was something we thought a lot about back then. It is good the truth is seeing the light.

      I thought about it when I was in Nicaragua during the Contra War. But like other journalism it becomes just another episode, another old story, getting colder, being filed away in the memory bin. But Renner's portrayal awakened old memories. It is fair so called "distinguished" media enterprises are shown for their role in trashing Webb and his story. Some of the principals may even feel a sense of shame. Beyond that however, is the visceral response to the vivid depiction of the grueling challenge and emotional drain of balancing investigative reporting with family and their safety. That layer of the film hit me like a gut punch. 

       What I write here now may have no significance save to a precious few, and I hope that few, my wife, my daughters my close colleagues and their families can take a measure of why we were the way we were-our behavior, our pre-occupation, our fears. Those who put self at risk, who endured harrowing and obsessive hours, manic months, giving up pieces of lives with loved ones, did so with a belief that what we were about meant something and was important.

     We reasoned once we published or broadcast information that a legion would then care, would believe and that right or justice would ensue. The reality is something quite different. 

     Killing the Messenger plays it true. Sometimes it's like the guy who gets knocked down, and kicked in the ribs and then kicked in the face. The pursuit of an approximation of truth, of facts, of the story doesn't have a happy ending. The truth of that as revealed in the Renner film woke up old pain, heartache and self reproach. 

     As tears dried I felt a sense of grace, a gratitude for my family who braced and supported me and for the good fortune of having emerged from that life to something with hope and joy. Man, how easy it would have been to slide into deep cynicism. 

     Ben, my late friend, producer and partner in many Quixotic adventures used to say, "It's like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer. It feels good when you stop!"  We were able to stop. Some of our efforts produced change, but human kind is always up to the same old stuff and lot of what investigative reporters do has only passing effect. You learn to live with it. Some victories are short. Some never come. Webb didn't get the advantage that some of us did- to live longer lives and to take that, even if it means living with ghosts. Kill the Messenger rattles old graves.

      See you down the trail.

DESPITE THE CLIMATE DIVIDE--NOT WHAT IT SEEMS--DIVINE COLOR?

Warning-this post includes notes on climate science.
TREES AS ART

    Cambria artist Bruce Marchese said he was experimenting with an abstract work. Bruce is best known for his rich color and realistic capture of people and scenes so I was intrigued. His vivid abstract piece now hangs at the Art Center. It's a brilliant representation of Eucalyptus bark. I see why he was so captivated.

    These Eucalyptus stand in a grove at San Simeon state park. They have competition in the color department though.

    This living abstract is the peeling bark of a Madrone.

   Hey Bruce, if you have success with the Eucalyptus you might consider the Madrone as your next model!

NEW WORRIES IN CLIMATE CHANGE

   This grand citizen of planet earth is one of the largest living things and one of the oldest.

     The only place in the world where you find these 2,000 to 3,000 year Sequoias is in the Sierra Nevada. Jim Robbins of the New York Times has published an article linked here that details the concern of biologists that climate change, especially longer or more frequent droughts, may peril the existence of these masters of the mountains.

    Sequoias, a type of redwood, have no disease or insect enemies and they can survive fire, but they need water, either in rain or snow melt.

    I've pondered if there isn't a message in this for humankind. Could there be something in the bark or essence of the largest and oldest living things on earth that could provide a molecular blessing?  Disease free, survive fire? What other living thing has such a resume?

    There is something else to these living spires. I am never  in a redwood forest or among the Sequoias that I don't sense a palpable spirit. Yes, there are differences on questions of the Divine, spirituality and faith, the degree and nature of climate change, but there can be no dissent on the overwhelming awesomeness of the power and survivability of the big trees. I think of them as the planet's silent sentries. What wisdom do they hold?

 See you down the trail.

DO YOU WANT OR DESERVE PRIVACY?-THE WEEKENDER

NOBODIES READING YOUR STUFF, SO...

     It's late, your mate has gone to bed and you are getting to delayed emails. You're sleepy, your patience is waning and something a friend has written prompts you to burn a politician or in a moment of anger-driven overstatement you threaten an act you would never do.  You know you would never seriously even entertain such an idea and your correspondent knows that, but what about the algorithmic watcher?

     There's no way you'd ever cheat on your husband but a foreign account executive with whom you do business regularly loves to flirt, and you flirt back, all in fun and in the sake of business relationships. Nothing serious to it, even when there is an occasional passing comment that might sound akin to Fifty Shades of Gray. It's just play, but does a government cell call listener know that?

     Or maybe you and your lover, frustrated by a long distance and a separation crank up your endorphins with some intimate conversation.  Is that anyone's business?

     Perhaps you and like minded folks find the only way to get some political action is to plan a protest or demonstration and you discuss civil disobedience. You are only talking and the most dangerous outcome of your pipe dreaming would be maybe a sit in. Should big brother be snooping into your conversations?

     These scenarios are modern dilemmas and they are getting no simpler. Exercise your thoughts for a moment by considering what these folks have to say.

THE WEEKENDER LIGHT

    Here's some wisdom for you, direct from the recently poured cement at my daughter's cooperative apartment.

    And some of us may remember getting into trouble for 

leaving initials in new sidewalks or driveways.

THE COLORS OF A CONTROLLED BURN

    The drive south on the Pacific Coast Highway had an extra bit of color in the sky today.  Cal Fire was conducting a "controlled burn" on about 195 acres near the Harmony Headlands State Park.  

See you down the trail.