LIFE WINS & WINNERS

    Looking at nature has become my lead antidote when news like that of Brussels rips the fabric of civilization. Heart break and mourning struggles against a sense of anger that fuels a desire for revenge. Isis must be destroyed, but there is little I can do, here. Sages tell us peace starts with our self. If not solace, if not reigning peace, at least a glimpse of that in the abundant resurrection of spring life. It helps. 

 CUBA CHANGES

          I'll be glad to return to Cuba. It will change, now that we are warming our relationship with the Island. Eventually it will be painted, rebuilt, refurbished and brought into the 21st Century. 
      The Cuba of Hemingway was an exotic brew of colonial aftermath and Caribbean passion but it was changed by the money of those who went to party, becoming a storied and sensual playground. After the revolution the Island fell into a prismatic melancholy, tattered and even rejected but still vibrant, alluring and intoxicating. Ghosts of the grand elegance and shadows of revolution curled like opposing shapes, unhappy companions, blown by trade winds down the decaying boulevards past crumbling mansions where squatters claimed grandeur and made their own joy. Music in alleys, dancing on stoops, laundry like flags on balconies, old cars Mad Max like, restaurants in homes, buildings falling into piles, areas of blackouts, festival spirit and poor but happy people. That is the Cuba I will remember and long to see again. But it will morph. 
      Obama's visit is the flipped switch that will now begin to 
return modernity, tourism and business. The forbidden jewel will be accessible again and that special, unique place trapped between diplomatic war and its inherent desire to make merry will begin to disappear. The new Cuba will shine no doubt and perhaps in ways like before the revolution. But that Island stuck between Castro's rise, Hemingway's departure and Obama's arrival will shrink away. That is the Cuba I love.
       Links to previous posts from the Cuba File.

The Cuba File Archive

•        The Old Man and the Sea-Meeting Hemingway's boat Captain
• Cuban File-Street Scenes
• Cuba File-The Shrine of St Lazaro
• Inside Hemingway's Home

THE BUILDER OF INSPIRATION

    Once these older boys were part of a creative factory that changed radio and influenced television, advertising and promotion.

     These fellows are part of Jim's team. From the left, Mike Griffin, Bob Christy, Jim Hilliard, this blogger, George Johns. Hilliard began as a young radio star who ended up a broadcasting mogul and business genius. He had that genius and ability to inspire when he assembled a team in the late 60's that created new forms of modern radio. We had fun and  made it up as we went along. Recently we gathered in Cambria. For some of us it was our first time together in almost 40 years. Wow!  Did the stories and memories flow.

     Here's a link to Bob Christy's blog post on the reunion.

     Here's a link to observations by one of our favorites, Bruce Taylor, who though he was not at the reunion was part of that late 60's group. 

      It would sound like tooting our horn to detail the accomplishment and impact of that Fairbanks Broadcasting team. We just did it and back then kept moving on to the next goal. Now with benefit of hindsight, the record gives us a sense of pride. But more important was the warmth of old friendships and simply being together again. The old National PD, George put it together. He can still format winners and Jim can still lead us over the next hill. Winners, willing to pay the price.

     See you down the trail.

OF OBAMA, CRUZ, SPOOKS AND FALL NOSTALGIOU-FUN TIME-THE WEEKENDER

WANTING TO KICK THEM AROUND

     While in the Washington DC area this week I took special interest in the fallen leaves, pleased by our liberation from raking and bagging.

     I confess now I hated to rake leaves.  As a kid I'd complain to mom and dad about the pointlessness of it.  "Just let them rot and fertilize the grass" I'd plea, unsuccessfully.

     Leaf raking and bagging is not an activity in our California lifestyle-fortunately.  So while these shots may be old hat to some of you, it is a sweet reminder to others of the positive of an absence.

LINGERING MUMBLES

    Overheard laments and lash outs from the Halloween party circuit.

     "I'm so over Obama" a liberal friend complained. "I almost came in black face but I still know what's wrong!"

     "I'm the affordable care web site" said a tilted box, strung with blinking lights and wires.

      "I came as Ted Cruz" said a friend in street clothes. "So now I'm going to be an ass hole all night!"

      Singer Jill Knight won my award.  Dressed as Captain Morgan complete with long curly tresses, mustache and appropriate attire, I couldn't believe it was Jill, even when she spoke right in my face.  But then proprietor Lyn Nanni was unrecognizable as well in her Mistress of Darkness attire and face paint. I'm slow on the uptake I guess.

THE OBAMA APOLOGIES 

    If anything, the Snowden document leak has given the State Department and or White House protocol officers plenty to do.  With revelation after revelation about who the NSA has bugged or tapped or snooped on, it seems the President has been as busy with world leaders apologizing and parsing words as anything else, other than maybe kicking some tail to get the web site working.  

     As a satirist said, everyone had to know we were doing it, we just didn't want talk about it.  And that is crux the matter isn't it?

INDULGENCES

    For Weekender foodies-a few snaps grabbed during our own journeys into delicious adventure while back east.

      Our dear friends Frank and Sandy have long raved about LAuberge Chez Francoise up in Virginia Horse Country at Great Falls.  It's been repeatedly rated the best and most romantic French Restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.

    Our magnificent 3-hour lunch was dream like.  Frank says when he was there once with his late father, a newspaper editor, he was told back in the old days it was a place where CIA executives used their expense accounts. At least it was money well spent.

AND THE HITS KEEP ON COMING

    A delight of the nation's capitol is the diversity of great dinning options.  Neighbors pointed the 4 of us to a nearby Asian Fusion spot.  The special rolls were edible art and the Pad Thai was the best I've tasted.  Sorry all I can offer here on the net are pictures.  They can't give the credit the place deserves.

    And then there was this crazy Asian take on baked Alaska

     Kenji Fusion is the name.  If you are in the DC area, around Falls Church Va., it should be on your list.

AND FINALLY

A VIDEO TREAT

In the spirit of the international diversity of the Washington DC area, here is something my old friend Bruce, aka The Catalyst, found.  This is amusing and a bit amazing

for a number of reasons.  Enjoy

See you down the trail.

    

THE CURSE OF OBAMA and BEAUTY ONLY A FEW EVER SEE

WITHOUT PARTISAN DEFERENCE

    My first big city newsroom boss told me we weren't doing our job unless both democrats and republicans were mad at us. As you read on, know that I invoke that principal, as I have over the decades.

     President Obama has himself to blame for many of his problems.  And he has the mutant spawn of the old Gipper for the balance.

     Obama emerged as America looked for and needed a change.  He was fresh, historic, appealing to new generations and with communication savvy. David Axelrod read the mood of America, fashioned a political campaign in response and unleashed a passion for change.  Hope, you remember.  

      But there were two shortcomings.  Obama himself, a smart young man, but without the wisdom that comes with years of survival in Washington or the learning that comes with being knocked down a few times. The other was the naive belief that controlling the White House meant you had the most power, or the biggest club in the fight.

      When they had the chance, back when American was sick and tired of W and Cheney, and as the economy was coming undone, Obama, Axelrod and team should have built a true political movement, a gradual revolution if you will.

      They could have, in fact should have seen that a compliant congress was necessary to affect the CHANGE they promised. Instead of the White House only, they could have been effective in bringing about a wholesale change-House and even in the Senate.  There was a time in America when a campaign for the Presidency was a product of a top to bottom party movement-state legislative races, Congressional Districts and Senate campaigns. A full package. More than anyone in the last couple of decades, they had that potential and capacity.

      And there is the diffident, distant, professorial and even arrogant style of Mr Obama himself.  Had he been around the Senate a little longer, he would have learned the wisdom of the old boys and girls.  Collegiality, friendship, schmoozing.  For those of you old enough, think of Sam Rayburn, Lyndon Johnson, John McCormack, Carl Albert,  Tip O'Neil, Ronald Reagan, Ev Dirksen, Charlie Halleck, even the depraved and aberrant Newt Gingrich. They could deal, horse trade and find a way to make things happen.

     In addition to their shortsightedness and inept use of power there is the buzz saw of the Tea Party. Here's where I lay its ancestry to Reagan.  The great communicator spent years telling people the federal government was the problem. He was very effective at selling that point of view, even though all the while he was himself adding more debt and growing the government.  But one thing he and his guru Michael Dever understood was that it's all about appearance and image.  So the great Conservative/Neo Con progenitor unleashed a couple of decades of a "the government is the problem" mantra until latent generations believed it. Enter the disgruntled if not overly bright Tea Party players.

      Old fashioned traditional Republicans worry the Tea Party, who represents a strident, loud, belligerent and obstinate base, minority though they are, will continue to make the once GOP a laughing stock or kill it by a suicide of ignorance.

       I agree that Speaker Boehner is like a besotted eunuch  when it comes to political combat, with his own charges even. The recent SNL parody which had him parading around in panties and vamping was brilliant. But I am not so sure my Republican sources aren't a little out of phase. I sense that an increasingly tribalized American body politic, fed by an increasingly stupid media, mainstream and partisan, and a growing number of low information voters only plays into the hands of those who's intellectual depth goes to bumper sticker slogans.  Currently I fear that thought, analysis and a sense of history has been eclipsed by volume, rancor, selfishness and presided over by inept government.  It is a bit as though our highest level of aspiration or accomplishment is to look like a Greek or Italian government in search of yet another spiral down. 

       Maybe it is time to give each member of the house a walking stick and to urge them to use it as a tool of persuasion.  We have a long history of Congressional fistfights. Link here as you ponder if it might not be time to let them rumble!!  By the way, my money would be on Barry Obama to take crybaby Boehner down, quickly!

FROM THE PROFANE TO THE SUBLIME

   After enduring that rant you deserve something nice.  This is about as nice as it gets.  Included here are scenes from a hike that began at about 9 thousand feet and continued around alpine lakes and mountain streams to just below 11 thousand feet.  This is from Rock Creek Lake, in the eastern Sierra over the Mono and Morgan Pass trails to some of the most pristine sights on the planet.

   The frame above and below was our view as we paused for a back pack lunch.

     We were impressed by the "landscape painting" in the striation of this boulder.

     This is where the trail ended for us. Lana had a bad altitude headache.  I had no desire to hike alone as you can see the trail was becoming a little more difficult.

    So we decided to settle in and simply be overwhelmed by the quiet, serenity and beauty of creation.

    See you down the trail.

THE SYRIAN SOLUTION AND THE HALL

HANDLING THE SYRIAN MATTER

     There is a time tested way to respond to Syria's unforgivable and barbaric use of sarin gas that avoids the pitfalls and absurdity of American political theater.

     Assad, his high command and his field officers who planned, approved, executed and evaluated the use of the gas should be indicted and charged as international war criminals. This would signify to the world  they acted outside the bounds of the civilized world and international law.

     There is an International Criminal Court and there is certainly a history of pursuing, trying and convicting war criminals.  The Nuremberg Trial and the successful prosecution of Nazis at the end of World War II is the most notable but there have been similar prosecutions since.

    It would require time to arrest and try those responsible but in the interim they will be known and vilified and will live with both ignominy and the lurking fear of when the hand of justice will reach them.  In that sense they will be pariahs in the civilized world and marked with their alleged crimes, not forgotten and pursued until prosecuted.
    Nations do not commit war crimes, people do. A lesson of  the Nuremberg prosecutions is that ultimately individuals are held accountable for their actions, even if they are ordered to do so under a military command. This places the responsibility squarely where it belongs, the conscience and judgement of individual human beings.

     To pursue Assad and his minions through a court of law allows the world to revile them and expresses contempt while bringing justice. And importantly it frees the US, or any nation, the need to unilaterally engage in questionable, risky and even philosophically controversial actions. 

     Two quick points here; the US likes the sovereignty of being able to act unilaterally, though we do not favor such an option to any other nation. Maybe you can understand that bias, but it is a flawed philosophical/moral concept. The other point-you cannot engage in a limited action, bombing or other wise, without changing the dynamic of the conflict. Any tinkering in the complexity of a civil war threatens to draw us in more deeply. Look at history, it shouts loudly about this.  

      Furthermore I do not trust the wisdom of this President nor his advisers, nor do I have faith in the judgement and requisite reasoning of our current legislative branch of government. The senior chamber possesses a modicum of wisdom. The House however might be the assemblage of the least qualified, least intelligent and most dysfunctional buffoons, idiots, grafters, poltroons and clowns in the history of Congress!
      Finally following this course of action is the use of diplomacy and reason above the use of lethal force and power. That should always be our first and best option.  

THE HALL

See you down the trail.

OLD WAYS WERE BETTER & OBAMA IN TROUBLE AND SO ARE WE

ON THE ROPES

     The snarks, pundits and even credible analysts say Washington has turned on President Obama. The IRS targeting of political groups and the Justice Department intrusion on journalism has motivated not only the obstructionist Republican conservatives, but what is left of the traditional GOP, Democrats and the press corp. That's most of the players in DC.

      I have noted here previously the Obama administration record on Freedom of Information matters is troubling. Now the move on the AP's phone records puts him in a league with George W. Bush and adds truth to the cartoon characterizations of him being the new Tricky Dick Nixon.

     Frequent readers know I am a staunch supporter of the First Amendment.  The continual intrusions into our freedoms, born by the Patriot Act and the so called war on terror are part of what is truly a criminalizing of dissent. This administration now aids and abets this assault on freedom.

     As an investigative journalist I know how difficult it is to get people to talk, especially about government and most specifically about government wrong doing.  The Obama Justice Department's sweep of AP phone records will add to the chill.  Which is exactly what they want and which is absolutely dangerous for this democratic republic.

THE OLD WAYS MAY HAVE BEEN BETTER

    I was lucky to hear Dr. Kat Anderson, UC Davis and author of Tending the Wild thanks to a presentation sponsored by Green Space The Cambria Land Trust.

      A premise she advocates is that we are hunter/gatherers in our DNA.  She's spent years studying native California tribes and devouring anthropological research, notes and data. Dr. Anderson says that when Europeans entered the west they saw what they thought was wilderness, but was, in fact, land that had been tended and managed. In this area of the Central Coast of California the maintenance was done by Salinan Indians. 

      Dr Anderson suggests we'd be better off if we practiced what she calls ISM-Indiginous Stewardship Methods.
      -natural recycling
      -lowering  plant competition
      -reducing insects
      -reducing diseases
      -eliminating detrius 
      -keeping bush down
      -better water management
 Most of you probably never associate those practices with your image of Indians. But in fact the coastal Salinans practiced those and more to enhance food production. Knocking and pruning trees increased nut production, burning grass lands, beating grasses to gain seeds and tilling wisely were standard practices that improved yield and kept nature in better shape.
      Dr. Anderson would like to see areas set aside to practice the old methods, to mange the wild, to make it healthier.  The natives knew a lot more about caring for their home, than the arriving European based culture. It is never too late to learn.
     

SHORE FLORA

   See you down the trail.

HIDDEN BEACHES & TRUTH IN THE BENGHAZI AND IRS SIDESHOWS

TRUTHS IN SWIRLING TEMPESTS

     Clouds hang over an already failed legislative branch of US government and they threaten further distraction.
     The IRS targeting of political and anti Obama groups should be investigated and responsible parties should be fired or prosecuted. The federal tax man must be a neutral, even if not an always popular, bean counter and collector.   
     While tax law is  the art of lawyers who influence the increasingly stupid members of congress to write legislation that favors those with money to hide, the IRS still should not target people because of politics. That is fascist, totalitarian, Stalinist thuggery and there should be no place for it in a Democratic Republic.
      There should also be an inquiry into the Benghazi fiasco if for no other reasons than to shut up the political opportunists and more importantly figure how and why the vast intelligence and national security apparatus failed Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans who died in service to the US.
      Mistakes, and miscommunication occurred and all members of the intelligence community, defense and national security apparatus need to be held accountable.
      The problem of further study though is that it will only serve to excite the yapping Republican political operatives who see this as a way to damage Hillary Clinton's political chances in 2016 and cause defending Democrats to drag their feet.  Mrs. Clinton already said she takes responsibility for the disaster, though an investigative panel found the mistakes were made below her level.
      To date there is no evidence of a cover up, as the political wind bags allege, but there is plenty of evidence of confusion.  CIA, NSC, State Department, DOD, the White House and others were horribly inefficient, poorly coordinated, and all probably have to share in the ignominy of the Benghazi incident and the follow-up reporting and communication. Was there any ass covering?  Well if history is any indication, there was probably a significant amount, but covering your butt is different than a cover up.     
       Those who compare this to Watergate should have their tongues locked. Watergate was a political dirty tricks operation, part of a sabotage of the electoral process, that involved a failed burglary, and then blossomed to where pay-offs were shuttled, lies were told, Justice Department people were fired, and it was all run out of the White House. That was a cover up! Benghazi was a screw up.  
      Failed management, failed security, failed reaction, failed mission are all worthy of inquiry, but as noted, going down this road will no doubt create another side show in the embarrassing and deplorable environment that has become the US Congress. Both parties have much to be ashamed of, but don't you get a sense these fools are beyond embarrassment?  
      So now we have another circus or two to further delay
responsible action on fixing our national economic security, improving education, caring for a decaying infrastructure, getting out of idiot wars, strategizing for a clean energy future, truly regulating the untouched criminal class of investment bankers and financiers, and preventing what appears to be the entrenchment of a new gilded age.  Gilded ages never end well.  
      The world, and our enemies have changed, but the fools on the hill continue to play the cheapest and pettiest of games, bought and sold by money politics instead of national interest. Our interests in Benghazi and the IRS flap should simply be the truth, not political gain.
      Excuse me, I think I'll tune out and take a walk.

ALONE AT THE SHORE

Between Cambria and San Simeon

   See you down the trail.

AVOIDING THE WAR PATH

CAUTION

     Being engaged in another intractable war is madness, thus the United States and our disparate political factions need to think deeply, expansively and move very slowly.

     The latest threat of course is the civil war in Syria. Hawkish voices, many of them from the American right, are foolishly looking to force the Obama administration into an action of some sort.  That is not a step we want to take.

John Kerry's attempt to counsel with Russia's Putin is the right action for now.  

     The Bush invasion of Iraq, and the Obama escalation of Afghanistan validate the lessons of history.  It does not go well for a western power to step into the insane slipstream of middle eastern ancient hatreds.  Iraq is worse off post American invasion.  The US will retreat from Afghanistan as the Russians did before us, confounded by the dark age reality of tribalism, war lords, and a nation that is stuck in a world of ignorance, superstition and a religion of death.

     I have never understood the penchant of politicians who want to rush to war.  Just look at our own history.  How many times have we leaped into the fire, based on emotion, hot air and rhetoric? 

     All of the options for Syria are bad.  Assad is probably worthy of a daily flogging for the rest of his miserable and evil life, but the post Assad Syria is absolutely problematic for the world.  The further disintegration of a civil society is an almost certain outcome.  Just look at Iraq post Saddam.

Any American move into that hellish stew will hurt and cost us in ways we can not afford.  My concern is that we are seeing the early signs of what could be a catastrophic regional war fare between Shias and Sunnis.  

     Thus far Israel has shown it can and will protect its interests.  In the meantime we should not be goaded or talked into an engagement in Syria. If indeed the regime has ordered the use of chemical weapons on civilians, the United Nations must respond.  We can not let American windbag politicians talk us into something we should not do.  The president can find more appropriate language than the discussion of "red lines" and the ankle biters in the House and Senate need to realize the world is more serious than all their blather and political gamesmanship.  

      There is suffering, ignorance, disease, and hurting in this world where we could or should be.  Syria seems bound for a war amongst themselves, and I can't see that this nation has a player in that game.  Post Assad Syria could be the next step to a Muslim war.  Let them fight it. In the meantime we can be part of a team to deal with humanitarian relief and aid.

GLIMPSES OF SPRING

   See you down the trail.