STRANGE BREW, CHALLENGING Q's, WHAT'S NEXT?

A WIDER REACH

    A couple of items from here on the West Coast that have broader implications.

…less is more…

    California wine makers say this years grape yield is smaller, but the fruit promises to be very good. The concentration of flavor is said to be robust.  Good wine, less volume, no doubt higher prices.

…too warm…

      The west coast eco system is getting shocked. Peter Fimrite and Kurtis Alexander write in the San Francisco Chronicle the Pacific is six (6) degrees warmer than normal and it is having a devastating impact.  

      An algae bloom is killing crabs in record numbers. The warmer ocean is forcing a change in migration patterns.

      We posted earlier when the BBC and KQED aired an extraordinary three nights of live broadcasts from the Monterey Bay that scientists were seeing anomalies in whales, great whites, otters, dolphins, birds and others. One scientist was quoted as saying he didn't know if he should be excited by the unprecedented behavior to study or to be worried about it.

     A ridge of atmospheric pressure that has been largely responsible for the western drought is also the culprit in warming the Pacific beyond what is normal and healthy.

 

Carson up the creek?

     Credibility issues are clouding the Ben Carson campaign.

Challenges to his account of things in his life and other statements are causing some to worry about his honesty and judgement.

     Even some of the right wing evangelicals who are his largest support base raised eyebrows over his explanation of the building of the pyramids of Egypt.

      Carson has complained the media is unduly picking on him. His camp said other candidates including Barrack Obama didn't get the same treatment. Really?  Even after 7 years some media, bloggers and political activists question the President's birth and academic records. Millions of voters have considered all of that and despite the vitriol decided to elect him, twice. We'll see if similar millions feel that way about Dr Ben.

…rock solid…

   In last couple of weeks there has been a curious little monster that raises enormous questions about how to know what to believe and trust.

   Someone released a list of names of elected officials with alleged ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Whoever did it purported to be the hacker activist group Anonymous. The next day Anonymous said it wasn't them, but Anonymous did release its own KKK hack of information. 

   Already many are unnerved that activists like Anonymous, or Wiki Leaks or Snowden, Manning, et al can grab and then release sensitive data, information and the like. Sony was crushed. The US State Department, DOD and intelligence agencies were stung. The great film Fifth Estate deals with the implications of such and the battle between journalists and activists in how to handle sensitive even life threatening information.

    This leads us to the next challenge. If you are a news writer or producer and you receive a tweet pointing you to a trove of previously private records, how do you respond?  Answering that is the beginning of a cascade of issues.

How do you verify the information? How do you know it is even real? How do you figure motive or intent of the leaker or hacker? Do you rush it to publication because it is so volatile Do you calculate the impact of such a release?  There are other considerations. In the case of the KKK information, bogus though it was, it got "out there" in the media. Once something lands in the media today, it takes on a life of its own, even if it is false.

    Putting on my curmudgeon hat for a moment-the media used to confirm information. I remember being furious with my boss that I needed to get two sources to confirm something before going with it. It was a good principle. Take for example if someone is labeled a child molester. Even if that proves to be absolutely false, you can never undo the damage. That very accusation is often made in custody battles or divorce cases or other legal fights.  It's easy to tar someone with false claims, but the media should never be a conduit for such. Consider that even asking questions to confirm or deny an allegation can cause damage.  To do journalism properly requires skill and judgement.

    There was a time when news organizations had a number of old boys or old girls in the shop, people who had been around the block a few times, were street wise and who had built in bull shit detectors.  News shops today are stretched to the limit to feed a 24 hour on line beast, along with broadcasts or publications. Social media is a constantly hungry tool that needs to be fed. Factor into that the relative age and experience level of today's practitioners and senior staff and supervisors get ulcers just thinking about it, unless they are from a generation that is more concerned about trending, hits, buzz, speed, spin and followers than facts and balance.

     A long time friend, a media and political expert with a great mind and a world of experience says we can't imagine how much worse it will become.

     See you down the trail. 

NOTES FROM THE BLUE PLANET

THE INFORMATION WARS

     Jonathan Landay of McClatchey Newspapers reports troubling news that amounts to a piling on after we've learned how invasive information mining already is.  

     Landay writes of a directive from James Clapper who works as the Director of National Intelligence.  Clapper's one man edict, with the power of law, forbids intelligence community employees from any contact with journalists.  Now, only the director, deputy director or public information officer of a member agency of the intelligence community is permitted contact. A very dangerous and sinister move.  

     No doubt Clapper and his advisers, rocked by the Snowden and earlier Wikileaks releases, and genuinely concerned about our security, believe this is the best thing. The danger though is when a single executive, or even a branch of government builds policy that restricts knowledge in a punitive way.  Under Clapper's edict, any offending intelligence community employee's career will be damaged or ended. There is also the philosophical issue of a government, meant to serve, deciding to hold information against, or away from those who empower it-we citizens.

      As I sat in an intelligence oversight conference room hidden away under the US Capitol dome, a ranking member of congress spoke earnestly of the hard choices and actions that must be taken in the field of intelligence, simply to give our government options for our security. There are few black and white constructs. Security and intelligence is a nether world where shades of gray and complexity are the multi layered norm. As my source told me "some of the decisions that are necessary, don't look so good in the light of day."

     In more than 4 decades of reporting I learned which sources I could trust and they in turn learned that I could be trusted. Now some of those people from federal law enforcement, intelligence and counter intelligence, defense, state and local police, Senate and House oversight committees, would not have been able to assist my work in reporting to the public.  

     No government is so good that it does not need to be watched, nor should it ever strive to be anything but transparent.  Men and women who hold positions of influence, elected, appointed or civil service are never above accountability. Journalism is an imperfect craft or profession but it provides a valuable surrogate role for citizens. Journalists must be able to gather and know all facts and as close an approximation to truth as possible, especially in the area of policy formulation and conduct. This is paramount in areas of national security, public safety and individual privacy. Clapper's one man edict, regardless of claims of nobility of intent, is wrong, chilling and dictatorial. 

     Good men and women who believe in the principles of this Democratic Republic and who do the hard work of intelligence and journalism will find ways to share information and knowledge and work around the dangerous Clapper policy. We are a government of, by and for the people and we can never accept anything less.

     A couple of weeks ago Central California readers of The Cambrian were surprised by the tone of an article I penned about the hiring of a public information officer for our Community Service District Board. "I agree with you but""you were awfully strong," or "too strong," or "too tough" were comments from a few friends. My point there derives from the same point as my reaction to the Clapper edict.  Government employees do not work for a political ideology, philosophy, policy leaning, or butt covering-they work for the public.

It is not easy. Issues are complicated. There are competing interests-but the constitutional frame work and the public's right to know should be guiding precepts. Clapper is a dedicated public servant, but he is wrong. I hope he reconsiders. This is tantamount to a gag order.

GARDENING IN A TIME OF DROUGHT

    Californians struggle through the drought finding ways to conserve water while governments look at water policy and permitting processes. 

       As an Earth Day celebration note we share a personal report.

     We've added rain barrels and redirected our downspouts.
These two are tied together.

   This barrel stands alone. These help to harvest rain, when we get it. Living in a coastal zone we are blessed with lots of spring and summer evening marine fog. It's amazing how much flows off the roof and the barrels are an improvement as a catchment. They can also be filled with non potable water.

    In a small way, we've become solar powered. 

 We opted for a small panel which feeds through a charge controller to a 12 volt battery that we store out of the elements in the plastic box.

    A ten amp pump with a 45 PSI rating connects the barrel's out flow to a hose that feeds into our irrigation system.

  Our native California friend Dick, a gardening veteran, helped modify the drip irrigation system by adding the white cap feed input.

    The single barrel will source the lower raised bed and tomato cage.

     The double barrels will source the hill top raised bed as well as the side beds. Most of the hill side itself is drought tolerant planting and not in need of much water.

  Fava beans are doing well in a new side bed.  They, as well,

  will be fed by barrels thanks to the power of the little pump.

                                           Ditto for the lemon tree

           and the newly planted grape.  The barrels, solar panel,
battery, charge controller, pump as well as the modification to the downspouts cost a few bucks, but allow us to conserve and continue to garden.  And the new 

     is a lot better than the old system of down spout capture by these old cat litter containers that also needed to be hauled up the hill.

     Happy Earth day.  Take good care of it.  It's the only one we have.

     See you down the trail.

STRIKING A BALANCE- THE WEEKENDER

AN ISSUE OF OUR TIME
REEL NOTES-THE FIFTH ESTATE

     In a nutshell the film revolves around a line spoken by Julian Assange "editing reflects bias."

     That is a great premise for a debate and reminds me of  countless conversations by journalists. A variation of the theme is do we reflect the culture, like a mirror, or do we shape it by our very presence? Such philosophic pondering and navel gazing seems hopelessly old century by comparison to director Bill Condon's treatment of the Wiki-leaks story.

      The idea of Wiki-leaks is profound, but its impact on the world is more shattering.  Screenwriter Josh Singer took a book by a former Julian Assange colleague, Daniel Berg and created a rich pastiche of culture, journalism, legal boundaries, personality and a dramatic timeline that centers on Assange and his desire to strip bare all pretense and leave us with a world of transparency.  In his world all organizations loose proprietary control of information and only whistle blowers and leakers are protected.  That's a helluva conversation to have.  But there are intersecting points of view including those of news organizations like the New York Times, Der Spiegel and The Guardian, plus agencies like the State Department with privileged and covert information.  It makes for a compelling film that transcends mere entertainment and approaches an ethics tome or philosophic debate.

       Condon infuses the work with a strong international accent, with a particularly heavy dose of Berlin artistic, avant garde and hacker culture.  Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant, nuanced, conflicted and spot on as Assange.  Daniel Bruhl is compelling as Daniel Berg who fell in and then out with Assange in his quixotic mission.

      The production style and graphics are as contemporary as your Droid or iPhone.  In a few years they may seem dated, but now they are slick and help move the story.  The opening montage is incredible.  I told a professor friend that he could use that as a history of communication set piece.

       The on screen debate over the release of the Bradley Manning documents is a good microcosm of the larger debate implicit in the film-the philosophic gist of hacking, complete transparency and openness and who gets to set the rules and control the information.

       Cumberbatch, and Condon's direction do a good job of portraying Assange's personal journey of commitment or obsession. Assange says the film is a propaganda attack on Wiki-leaks.  I don't agree.  As major news organizations battle against release of un-redacted cables, Laura Linney, as a State Department official says, "He's bigger than the Times."  And that is the core of the premise.  

        If you care not about the underpinning premise, it's still a fine film, just for the drama and entertainment value.  Condon has directed God's and Monsters, Chicago, Kinsey and Dream Girls.  He is a gifted film maker.  Singer wrote many episodes of West Wing and Law&Order and has talent and experience at making the complex move through good dialogue and strong characters.

        This is one of the most important films I've seen and is sure to add to what is a needed and clarifying debate.  

AND THIS TOO IS POWERFUL

THE WEEKENDER VIDEO

      See you down the trail.