Willy Wonker

Near to Perfect - The Red Cottage in S. Dennis Mass.

2010-09-16T16:09:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite Cape Cod restaurants is the Red Cottage, in South Dennis. First, there is the beautiful old Cape style building itself, but inside you'll find a fascinating cast of characters and absolutely delicious food.

About the "cast" - this place is frequented by a wide assortment of quirky, interesting people, locals, vacationers, commercial fishermen, and retirees. The place feels like a mélange of Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" crossed with the folks from "Prairie Home Companion."

The staff are friendly, funny, attentive without being intrusive, and remember their regulars, and if you go often they will also know your order from visit to visit.

All this said, the real reason to go is the delicious, fresh and classic diner food. Breakfast is truly amazing, with all sorts of interesting specials, (awesome pumpkin pancakes for example) great baked goods, and lots of coffee refills spiced with a smattering of local gossip. (If you sit at the counter.)

On my last visit I have the 1/2 lb Lobster roll, which was very meaty, and delicious. it came with a reasonable portion of excellent french fries, and a cranberry cole slaw that was also delicious. The waitress commented that for her it made two meals, and I can easily see why.

My partner opted for the "Pilgrim Breakfast", poached eggs, a side of baked beans, and meltingly tender bone in ham. It was delicious. Interesting people, great food, and a very reasonable price make is one of my favorites on Cape Cod.

-Will H. Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:36 Old Bass River Rd, South Dennis, MA 02660

New Heights in Political Surrealism - McCain tweets Snooki!

2010-06-12T06:12:00.001-07:00

This week the extremely white John McCain tweeted the extremely orange Snooki, the Jersey Shore flavor of last summer, in support of keeping America's tanning beds tax free. (I'm not making this up!)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38439.html

This courageous tweet should go a long way toward ensuring McCain's reelection in Arizona, where they really, really love both tanning beds and white people.

Photo: John McCain is rendered temporarily speechless by the sheer orange-ness of Snooki's cleavage, while Cyndi McCain gazes reverently at her newly interwebz savvy twatter.

-Will H.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lies! Lies! Lies!

2010-03-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

The healthcare lies and distortions from the PAC's are reaching a shrieking crescendo. I just saw a breathtakingly disingenuous ad paid for by "Future Fund." I counted four outright lies and three gross distortions in the ad.

It turns "future fund" is a front for a hedge fund invested in companies that make diagnostic imaging technology. (This sector of the medical economy generates billions of dollars in unnecessary billings to insurance annually. The health care bill tightens fraud controls on this sector significantly.)

Clearly they are an unbiased source of information!

The Race to the Bottom...

2010-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

I can't help but wonder, if the health insurers are free to sell across state lines, what is to prevent them from all moving to the states with the laxest regulation, as the credit card companies and banks all did when Reagan and Clinton de-regulated them? Do you ever wonder why all the credit card companies are located in South Dakota, and all the banks in Delaware? It ain't the weather, that's for sure...

The "sell across state lines" premise falsely assumes that health insurers compete by trying to offer a better or cheaper product to consumers. This is fundamentally untrue, due to the virtual monopolies they hold. The way health insurers compete is by trying to spend as little as possible on claims, though denying claims and excluding the sick from their coverage pools. Freeing them to sell across state lines will just allow them to do that more aggressively, and make the denial of claims and rejection of people with pre-existing conditions far worse.

Just a small part of why our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world.

2009-08-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our health care system is built on the “fee for service” model – meaning that for each test or procedure that a doctor orders, an insurance billing is generated. This billing model, coupled with their need to defend against lawsuits, leads Doctors to duplicate orders, and to “over-test.”

In the last year I have had some dental work to correct a problem with my bite. This has involved seeing my Dentist, an Orthodontist, and a Periodontist, often all three of them on the same day. On multiple occasions they all ordered exactly the same x-rays, at $35 per film, on the same day. This quickly racked up to $250 – $350 in unnecessary billings in each office.

I protested, and asked why they couldn’t share the x-rays that had been taken earlier in the day. This was met with vague mutterings as to how “they needed different views of my teeth.” I observed that the bitewing sets were a perfectly standard view, and that they were identical to the x-rays taken that morning. This was met with more mutterings about “copies for their records” and other important sounding doctoral bluster. The evasion continued until I confronted the extremely wasteful procedure head on: “It’s really so you can generate billings to my insurance isn’t it?” Two of them stammered and stuttered, murmured something about how they “weren’t setup to share x-rays.” and quickly changed the subject. The third (and by far my favorite Doc) laughed, and said, “You know, you’re absolutely right, it’s really wasteful isn’t it?” I explained that my insurance company had canceled my dental coverage without warning or explanation. I told him was paying out of pocket for the x-rays. He sent me off to the next appointment with my x-rays in an envelope.

My Sister in Law is Taiwanese, and when I visited there two years ago she described their system to me. They have a very efficient (single payer) health insurance system. In Taiwan, my x-rays would be encrypted for privacy, and loaded onto a microchip embedded in my health insurance card. When I went to the next office they would pop my card into a scanner, and boom, there are my x-rays, saving everyone hundreds of dollars and reducing the potential for error. This is a prime example of how better electronic recordkeeping saves everyone money.

It also protects against malpractice, as each Doctor in Taiwan instantly knows the patient's allergies, medications, and has easy, legible and secure access to all of the health records.

What is tragic about the current healthcare debate is that both the Republicans and Democrats have valid points, and good ideas to reduce costs and increase coverage. Both sides are so locked into their ideological positions that honest discussion becomes nearly impossible. As long as the screaming continues, we all lose.

The Republicans are right about tort reform: Doctors perform gobs of un-needed and vastly expensive testing all the time to defend against possible lawsuits. Have you ever asked a Doctor what a test they are ordering costs? They generally have no idea. If the burden of defending against malpractice were made less onerous they would have to carry less liability insurance, and the cost of medical care might eventually fall. *

Democrats are right about the fee for service model being problematic, and about the rationing imposed by abusive underwriting procedures that make it nearly impossible for many people to get or afford private coverage.

A simple, yet damming truth: the way we do health insurance and deliver care now is the least cost-effective and most wasteful way to deliver medical services on the planet. We are the only major developed economy in the world that operates on this model, and our healthcare outcomes are ranked 37th among developed nations, behind the economic powerhouses of Dominica, Croatia, and Cyprus. The good news: our system does outrank such paragons of enlightened public policy as Angola, Ethiopia, and Myanmar. (Source: http://www.photius.com/rankings/who_world_health_ranks.html )

__________________________________

* I say “might” because the virtual monopolies of our vast industrial complexes are very quick to raise consumer prices in reaction to market forces, but very slow to lower them. One look at gas pricing over the last decade makes this abundantly clear.

Sotomayor and old white guys..

2009-07-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor's remarks that "a wise Latina would come to a better conclusion than a white male judge" have been mis-quoted out of context ad nauseam in right wing media. The spin on this has bled over into more neutral media as well, as her statement is nearly always printed out of context.

This has been trotted out over and over again as indication of racism on the part of Sotomayor. Her remark, when manipulated by these linguistic dog and pony tricks can seem disturbing. What she said was that "in cases related to racial discrimination" she believed that a "wise Latina would come to a better conclusion than a white male judge" What no one in the media seems willing to say is that this is so obviously true that is rises to the level of self-evident.

My understanding of this is informed by my experience as a white gay man in America. This allows me a different, and I would argue, clearer viewpoint for the observation of bias. I am able, at my choosing, to have a foot in both "sides" of the culture wars. I know what is it to be a white man of privilege. I also know what it is to be on the receiving end of bigotry, stereotyping, harassment and discrimination. I KNOW that my judgement in matters of discrimination (at least as far as gay issues are concerned) is informed by a sharper sensibility than that of someone without that particular life experience.

These attacks are part and parcel of the right's bizzare mania for claiming that rich, old, Christian white guys are somehow being discriminated against. Realizing that they cannot block her nomination, the right has decided to use the hearings to advance their ideas about "activist judges." All "activist judge" means is "I disagree with that particular ruling." It would be far more intellectually honest to state their case in those terms. Prepare yourselves for an avalanche of the weird mental gymnastics which assert justice should be colorblind when people of color are discriminated against, but should take great pains to protect the "rights" of white people.

Following the Sotomayor discussion on right leaning forums is an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak. Statements so shockingly racist as to be unrepeatable are routinely coupled with the assertion that Sotomoyer is a "reverse racist."

Newsflash - there is no such thing as "reverse racism", there is just racism, and surprise; "everybody is a little bit racist." (thanks to Avenue Q for that.) There is convincing scientific evidence that we all carry genetic markers that make us fear that which is different. It is an essential part of being human that we try to rise above our inbred, bestial fears and practice understanding. This is called empathy, and despite the Republican howling to the contrary, it is not a vice.

When your worldview becomes so pleistocene as to be repugnant to most people, I understand you may feel that you are being "discriminated" against. That doesn't make it true.

It is NOT discrimination when you are not permitted to make all children in public schools pray the way you want your kid to.

It is NOT discrimination when you are not permitted to enforce your religious views about abortion, marriage, or birth control on everyone in this country.

It is NOT discrimination when a Christian Air Force officer is asked not to evangelize Jewish and Muslim troops under his command.

Believe what you want, but leave the rest of us free to do the same. That shining ideal is the real genius of the framers of the Constitution.

Given these things, I'd much prefer the "wise Latina" on the bench.

(Especially since we've already got a bunch of rich old white guys there...)

Farmer Brown's, London

2009-06-12T06:13:00.001-07:00

This is the bacon, lettuce, avacado & tomato sandwich at Farmer Brown's, on New Street in London just off St Martins Lane. The sandwiches here are famous, though the bacon is done in the English style, which is to say it is minimally cooked, to the degree that it approximates bacon sushi. Despite that mildly harrowing characteristic, the sandwich was great. They also have nice looking salads, and a range of side dish salads as well. This is a nice place for a quick bite in the heart of Theaterland.

Will H. -- Post From My iPhone

Our Free is better than Free...

2009-06-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

Wow, that's pretty inexpensive...

-- Post From My iPhone

Susan Boyle: A cautionary tale for celebrity age

2009-06-02T01:06:00.001-07:00

A cautionary tale indeed! So many of us were moved by her, even as we sensed the whole Susan Boyle phenom was more "packaged" than it initially seemed...

Susan Boyle: A cautionary tale for celebrity age: "LONDON (Reuters) - Talent show contestant Susan Boyle's giddying rise from unemployed Scottish church volunteer to global superstar has come at a price, in what is being seen as a cautionary tale for the celebrity age.

(Via Reuters: Top News.)

The glories of privatization... cont'd

2009-05-31T13:40:00.001-07:00

Chicago recently privatized their parking meters in an effort to raise operating cash for the city. The private companies immediately did away with free parking on Sundays and holidays, quadrupled rates, instituted 24 hour a day / 7 day a week meter feeding requirements, and installed thousands of brand new non - working meters citywide.

"thousands of newly installed (privatized) credit-card and coin-taking parking meters simply do not work." - NY Times

The situation has gotten so bad that the city had to stop issuing parking tickets, because so many of the the privately run meters were inoperable.

If you believe that government is inherently bad, and can't do anything well, then privatization may make some sense. We need to recognize that this is a belief, and not a matter of fact. Isn't it time we started to govern based on what actually works as opposed to articles of faith? Why do the media so often fail to confront this unsupported belief as a superstition when it is trotted out?

Having live through the horrors of the privatization of the energy markets in California, I am well aware that the Republican mantra of "private business can deliver public services better and cheaper" is often flat wrong. This is just one more of literally dozens of examples of the utter failure of the drive to privatization.

Please note, this photo is not an actual Chicago parking meter...

Credit Card reform - Sen. Chris Dodd says Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot!

2009-05-22T16:51:00.001-07:00

President Obama signed the much overdue credit card reform bill into law today, with a completely non-sensical "gotcha" earmark added by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla allowing people to conceal and carry loaded weapons into our National Parks.

Is Sen Chris Dodd (D, Conn) making a playground stye finger gun in this photo? "Bang! Bang! Shoot! Shoot!"

"New law will curtail fees and rate hikes starting in February. Industry opposition fell under populist push, culminating year's long drive by consumers." - CNN Money

Pelosi and Waterboarding...

2009-05-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

I must be missing something. According to the partisan hacks at Fox News, It's perfectly OK for Cheney / Bush / Woo to authorize waterboarding "to keep us safe", but it's not okay for the house minority leader to know about it? HUH?

Oh, it's the timeline of when she knew....

Isn't this the same kind of botched timeline garbage we've seen in every one of the dozens of Republican scandals in the Nixon / Reagan / Bush / Bush W administrations?

Come on Fox - is it that hard to fill the hours now that the American electorate has left you behind?

(Not that Nancy isn't something of a partisan hack herself, and I'm a lifelong democrat...)

The Return of Grace - Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement - CNN.com

2009-05-13T22:06:00.001-07:00

Obama turns controversy into jokes, lesson at commencement - CNN.com:

"TEMPE, Arizona (CNN) -- President Obama on Wednesday turned a flap over his commencement speech at Arizona State University into a joke -- then a lesson about never being satisfied with one's accomplishments." - CNN

Thank God for the return of grace and good humor to the Presidency. Remember the brouhaha over ASU not offering an honorary degree to president Obama when he spoke at ASU's commencement? The University said it was refusing the honorary degree to Obama, because "his accomplishments were still before him."

WTF?

Being President of the Harvard Law Review, sponsoring the most significant ethics reform bill in Illinois history, raising a family, and being the first African American President at age 47 aren't significant accomplishments?

Oh right! ASU is the state university of the same state that refused to recognize the Dr. King Holiday until nearly Ten years after the rest of the country was celebrating it.

Today President Obama delivered a wry, funny and graceful speech to the graduates, gently parrying the slight and turning it into a moving "teachable moment" about their "best accomplishments being before them."

I was proud to see the grace and humor with which the President handled the speech.

Refreshing, as when was the last time the words graceful and the Presidency commingled?

Sen. Arlen Specter to become Democrat - CNN.com

2009-04-28T09:32:00.001-07:00

Arlen Specter's announcement that he is changing party affiliations underlines that the Republican party has moved so far to the right as to become functionally irrelevant in large parts of the country. Sen. Specter says says he didn't leave the Republican party, but that the party left him.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, and have been dismayed in recent years as conservatives hoodwinked blue collar rural and suburban voters there into voting against their own interests, through crass manipulation of their social and economic fears.

The Rove, Bush & Cheney crowd convinced a lot of moderate folks that they were conservative, against logic and common sense. It is good to see this pendulum swinging back..

Gallery Floor - Art is where you find it!

2009-02-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

I was at the Tucson museum of Art last month - they were painting the gallery walls, and this cardboard laid down to catch the drips caught my attention. I love the Diebenkorn-esque colors and the "accidental" composition.

Gallery Floor, Tucson Museum. Cardboard and paint drips on concrete.

- Will

All time best ever Politician name...

2009-02-10T16:13:00.001-08:00

Could there be, under any circumstances a better political name than Tzipi Livni (pronounced "Zippy Livney") of the Kadima party in Israel?

It's been a joy to listen to the Israeli election returns, largely because I keep thinking that Zippy the Pinhead has been elected!

Obama busts a move

2009-01-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

President Obama Busts a move... Is is just me, or is the whole country infused with a sort of carnival mood? Of course there are huge challenges ahead, but here in CA anyway there are grins and smiles everywhere you go...

My neighborhood health food store welcomes change...

2009-01-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

This made me smile...

- Will

Tears of Joy for President Obama!

2009-01-20T09:19:00.001-08:00

The peaceful transfer of power always touches me, but this one... Wow!

"we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake." - President Obama, January 20th. 2009

Amen!

- Will

Lovely parting gifts...

2008-12-20T09:46:00.001-08:00

Despite the flurry of press coverage lauding the Bush administration's "unprecedented cooperation" with the Obama transition team, the outgoing administration is quietly passing dozens of deeply offensive and highly partisan rules, corporate giveaways, presidential directives dismantling environmental protections and other pet right wing projects. (Over ninety of them at last count.)

The medical "right to refuse" rule just passed is an example of these, designed to:

"...protect the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience," said outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Is that an Orwellian bit of doublespeak or what?

This means that a Emergency room nurse opposed to birth control can refuse emergency contraception to a rape victim, or even to inform the patient that such a thing exists. Receptionists can refuse to make appointments for patients whose medical choices they disagree with. Doctors could legally withhold information about birth defects in a fetus if they felt it might increase the chances the mother would elect to have an abortion.

This "right" to deprive people of their legal health care choices based on religious objection is an appalling "parting gift" to the evangelicals, and a slap in the face to the electorate who overwhelmingly rejected the Bush administration's policies. As usual with this deeply mendacious administration, the public face hides a sinister and narrowly defined agenda.

Having your cake and eating it too... A note on voiding California Proposition 8

2008-12-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

The supporters of Proposition 8 in California keep wailing plaintively that the thousands of people in California whose marriages were recently declared invalid should "accept the will of the people."

"Opponents of same-sex marriage have urged protesters to accept the will of voters." - NY Times

Hmmm....

Aren't these the same people who have spent the last 35 years trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, which is the will of the vast majority of the American people who want to keep abortion safe and legal? How many times have they argued that their "moral imperative" overrules the "mistakes" of the courts and legislatures? It seems they'd like to have their cake and eat it too.

Most excellent spam - because all the best law firms use hotmail...

2008-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Recently received spam -

I especially like the part about how the beneficent Jürgen Krügger was a "very dedicated Christian who loved to put out." Hmmm...

Plus, I'm pretty sure all the best law firms use Hotmail...
- Will

Barristers' Chambers:
JERRY MORGAN & ASSOCIATES
E-mail: bjmesq4@hotmail.co.uk
Address:33 Bedford Row
London WC1R 4JH, England
PARTNER MANAGING
JERRY MORGAN & ASSOCIATES
LONDON - UK.

Attention

On behalf of the Trustees and Executor of the estate of Late
Engr.Jürgen Krügger. I once again try to notify you as my earlier
letter was returned undelivered. I hereby attempt to reach you again
by this same email address on the WILL. I wish to notify you that
late Engr. Jürgen Krügger made you a beneficiary to his WILL. He left
the sum of Thirty Million, One Hundred Thousand Dollars (USD$30,
100.000.00) to you in the Codicil and last testament to his WILL.
This may sound strange and unbelievable to you, but it is real and
true. Being a widely traveled man, he must have been in contact with
you in the past or simply you were nominated to him by one of his
numerous friends abroad who wished you good. Engr. Jürgen Krügger
until his death was a member of the Helicopter Society and the
Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers. He was a very
dedicated Christian who loved to put out. His great philanthropy
earned him numerous awards during his life time. Late Engr. Jürgen
Krügger died on the 13th day of December,
2004 at the age of 80 years, and his WILL is now ready for
execution.According to him this money is to support your humanitarian
activities and to help the poor and the needy in our society. Please
if I reach you as I am hopeful, endeavor to get back to me as soon as
possible to enable me conclude my job. I hope to hear from you in no
distant time.

Contact me upon the receipt of this mail: bjmesq4@hotmail.com

I await your prompt response.

Yours in Service,
BARRISTER JERRY MORGAN ESQ.
PRINCIPAL PARTNERS: Barrister Aidan Walsh.Esq Markus Wolfgang, Mr.
John Marvey Esq, Mr. Jerry Smith Esq.

The 'Ol Soft Shoe...

2008-12-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

In a new height for media cluelessness, when reporting on the Muntadhar al-Zeidi - George Bush shoe throwing incident in Iraq this week, a CNN anchor said: "We're still trying to get to the bottom of why someone would do this." Hmmm.... Let's see -

Could it have someting to do with the Bush regime's cherrypicking the intelligence to promote a totally unnecessary and massively destructive invasion and occupation of Iraq? Thousands of civilians dead? The country in ruins? The brutal civil war the invasion unleashed?

Perhaps we should look to what Muntadhar al-Zeidi said as he tossed the shoes?

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog," al-Zeidi yelled in Arabic as he threw his shoes. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Why indeed?

Can you be more specific, please?

2008-12-01T16:01:00.001-08:00

Hmmmm...

Can you be more specific, please?

- Will

Prop 8

2008-11-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

On the passage of prop 8 I am reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson:

"Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it"

John and Cyndy McCain

2008-09-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Did you notice the weird moment in the Cyndy McCain bio-pic shown at the RNC, describing John and Cyndy's first meeting?

The film said: "Cyndy, who was 24 told John she was 28. John, who was 41 told Cyndy he was 37."

They both lied about their age - isn't that just darling?

Presumably the RNC was trying to finesse the 17 year age difference between them. (A difference that isn't at all creepy at 71 and 54, but could be perceived as a tad creepy at 41 and 24.)

What I found illuminating about this was something totally different. The not so subtle subtext is: "I'm willing to lie to get what I want."

That's pretty revealing when you look at how many of his principled positions John McCain has tossed out in his pursuit of the Republican nomination. Watching him jettison one ofter another position to appeal to the radical right has been a nauseating exercise in politics as usual.

Straight Talk?
I'm not so sure.

Does this look like a tax increase?

2008-08-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

Don't belive McCain's scaremongering about Obama. McCain's Tax plan offers a much LOWER tax cut for 79 percent of Americans than Obama's according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Read about it in the LA Times.

Which begs the question - we are in the midst of the most expensive war in world history, financed entirely on our children's credit cards. Despite Republican orthodoxy, what possible justification for a tax CUT can be made under these conditions? *

Why is is that the only thing the "cut tax and spend" Republican party has asked us to do to support this illegal war is to go shopping?

Hmmm...

* Yes, I know that tax cuts do spur the economy, but so does a balanced budget, just look at Bill Clinton's presidency, which created the largest peacetime expansion of the economy in US history.

Life without Plastic?

2008-08-01T05:06:00.000-07:00

I just read this piece from a BBC reporter who is trying to live without plastic in any form for a month. My first thought is that it will be very, very difficult to do.

Nearly everything these days comes packaged in plastic.

Reading the comments on the article it strikes me how limiting the left vs right view of the environmental issues we face really is.

Painting this issue as a left - right dichotomy misses the point, since we're all going to end up buried under the plastic waste.

How strange is it that conservatives in the US have such a rabid reaction to the idea of conservation. Isn't the concept of conservation central to their worldview?

I do understand the knee-jerk reaction. I am an environmentally minded lefty, yet on a nearly daily basis am repulsed by the smugness and holier than thou behavior I see on the left around environmental issues. If I want to smack us is it any wonder the conservatives do too?

If we could let go of that a bit maybe we'd be able make real progress. This attempt to retool the stranglehold of left / right dichotomy is part of what makes Barrack Obama so interesting to me.

a "Stain on the Department of Justice"

2008-07-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

The unfolding department Justice scandal sheds light on an ongoing pattern of placing ideological "purity" over qualifications for job hiring.

Bush appointees illegally interviewed prospective employees for the justice department to determine their beliefs on unrelated matters like abortion, gay rights and other "hot button" topics.

This pattern of "stacking the deck" with ideologues is a stated part of Karl Rove's blueprint for a "permanent Republican majority".

It's not just happening in the DOJ either. This month a gay community based non-profit I work with was initially denied IRS 501(c)3 status when an employee at the IRS wrote to us saying "though we wish to apply the law equally, why should the IRS recognize an organization that espouses immoral and possibly illegal behavior?" (we do safer-sex education) This has nothing to do with the agent's responsibility to vet weather we meet the qualifications, and everything to do with enforcing a right wing Christian worldview on the country.

Similarly - the Bush administration has stacked the immigration department with unqualified Regent law school* political hacks with little or no immigration law experience. Do you suppose that this has anything do do with the face that my sister in law, who is Taiwanese, has been waiting nearly four years for her green card?

As is standard administration practice, this is being passed off as mistakes by "senior aides", while the higher up's (Gonzalez et al.) refuse to testify; citing either "executive privilege" or first amendment rights against self incrimination.
____________________________
*Regent is Pat Robertson's law school - and a favorite source for unqualified political appointees of the Bush administration. Regent's stated mission is to bring Christian teachings to bear with the force of law in this country. For many years the graduates of this school couldn't pass the bar, presumably because they spent so much time studying the legal ramifications on parking regulations of Jesus' riding dinosaurs into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

Tall ships to make a comeback for freight?

2008-07-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

How cool is this? A 108 year old British schooner, the Kathleen & May, docked in Penzance (cue singing pirates) with a cargo of French wine. The commentators are all very quick to point out that it travels at half the rate of a modern freighter, but the bonus is simple - zero carbon output!

It is fascinating to me how many of the solutions to our carbon problem will be found in the re-invention of 19 century technologies. Sail & Rail represent a huge environmental opportunity, particularly given potential increased efficiency due to computer control.

It could also help to promote an economy that favors local consumption, as slower shipping times will increase costs for goods from far away. (This is logical, and in the long run will be good for the planet as well as local economies.)

Batman Dog

2008-07-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

No particular reason, just a cute dog sitting in a Batman chair at the Wellfleet flea market.

- Will

A Funny thing about New Englanders...

2008-07-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

As a lot, New Englanders are known for their pragmatic skepticism and thrift. I notice this a lot when I return here from California, the land of wanton excess in all things, particularly in excess.

The local bird-watching shop (The Birdwatcher’s General Store, in Orleans Massachusetts) carries bulk bird seed in big barrels. You scoop and fill your own container with the seed.

They have two bins for thistle seed, one marked “Fancy” and one marked “Plain”, and both cost exactly the same per pound. There is a sign calling attention to the fact that they cost the same, and are in fact identical, but for the name.

It’s a funny thing about New Englanders; the “plain” bin is always half empty - and the “fancy” one virtually untouched.

Ayeh...

Ahhhh Provincetown

2008-07-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

Just got into Provincetown for a week. This is the harbor as seen from the porch on the room I'm renting. Ahhhhh....

- Will

Right Wing Distortion of the Week

2008-07-12T04:43:00.000-07:00

In response to Barrack Obama's recent off the cuff comment that -

"“...it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is ‘merci beaucoup!’”

The right wingers went bonkers. As is so often the case, the nativist "English only" argument is a cover for ugly xenophobia and racism. Writing in the "Dakota Voice", a particularly cosmopolitan media oulet, Anton Kaiser (I'm not kidding!) distorts this - alleging Obama said - "We are now told that every American child should learn to speak Spanish." Huh? When did he say that? *

The science is in on this - learning languages improves brain function, employability, cognition and widens our understanding of the world around us. This is a bad thing?

It is embarrassing. I am always secretly a little pleased when someone assumes that as an American I only speak English. When I've been overseas and respond in Spanish, French or Italian they always have a double take moment when the ask if I am really American.

(In the sprit of full disclosure - I should say my French doesn't go much beyond Merci Boucoup...")

Hmmm...

"are you really 'merican?"

a bit like Anton Kaiser...

* I notice that whenever someone says "we are now told" this seem to be a cue that what follows is a gross distortion. From a neuro-lingustic perspective "we are now told" implies reactivity. (I am acted upon, and thus must react aggressively.) Along with the infamous "some say" It seem to be a favorite phrase on Fox news as a way to attribute things people never said to them.

Moved to the Dark Side.

2008-04-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

Just lettin' everyone know I've gone over to the dark side and bought a Mac.

My first observation is it's only intuitive if you've never, ever used any other kind of computer.

Actually, the very first was that it's gorgeous.

Hard to get used to - mousing with no right click feels like I'm computing wearing mittens.

Bailout of Bear Sterns by JP Morgan Chase - backed by the fed. (That's you and me!)

2008-03-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

I think what is prominently missing from the media discussions of the economic meltdown is how much of the current financial crises is a direct result of the ideological darling of the right - deregulation of financial industries.

Remember back when banks and investment firms were prudently regulated? These sort of economic meltdowns didn't happen every nine months.

Enron, the California energy crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, all of these are the direct result of the Republican's shredding of "burdensome" regulation in the last three decades.

Cheshire Cats - David is Fine!

2008-02-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

Whew - the procedure went very smoothly and David is fine. It's amazing how something like this makes you reevaluate life.

We sat in the recovery room grinning like Cheshire Cats. It's an oddly beautiful thing to say all those things you know you'll regret if you leave them unspoken, and then have the urgency of loss removed so suddenly.

For the most part, I live pretty comfortably with death. I've lost a lot of friends and family, some very suddenly. Though I grieve those losses deeply, I accept them as a part of life.

All that said - I am very glad "we have some more time" as David put it.

Waiting Room - Cedars Sinai

2008-02-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in the cardiac catheter lab waiting area. They are doing an angioplasty on my friend David. Due to the variety of health issues he has, the Docs have termed this "very risky." They transferred him here from another hospital, as they didn't even want to try the procedure there.

It's been a weird few days. I am struck by how extremely differently folks react to medical situations.... Some with acceptance, others with horror or avoidance.

My favorite was when David asked our most death phobic friend to witness his advance directive /do not recusitate order. Such a kidder, that David!

Roxio Software wins the Golden Cheeseball!

2008-02-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's Roxio, they of the pre-installed, resource hogging, system crashing bloatware.

I have never had a piece of software made by these people that actually worked - or even ran without crashing my system. So why does it come pre-installed on nearly every windows computer in the world?

The most recent Roxio sponsored fiasco came using their "image transfer wizard". I had just gotten back from a trip to Mexico using a friend's borrowed digital camera. I plugged the sucker into my laptop and Roxio's "wizard" popped up, offering to transfer the files for me. I thought - "OK, I'll give it a whirl." One of the options was "delete files from source when done moving" Sounds good - since I'm giving the camera back - I'm sure he'd like to get this card back clean.

The "wizard" began it's work and I noticed it was naming all the files - "ImportedPicture0001.jpg" etc. Let's stop this process and change that to something more descriptive like PuertoVallarta0001.jpg I clicked cancel - and it stopped the import, but it STILL DELETED ALL THE PHOTOS - without moving them!

Wizardly indeed! Roxio's Image Transfer wizard succeeded in erasing 900 megs of my vacation photos in a twinkling of an eye. Not moved to the recycle bin, not in the tmp directory - just GONE! Thanks Roxio!

Who designed this piece of crap?

Not a mention of the problem on Roxio's "support" website.

The good news is that I was able to recover them using ZAR (Zero Assumption Recovery) Software.

I think it is interesting that computer magazine editors and reporters routinely rate Roxio products as "excellent" while in nearly every forum related to Roxio software the users consistently rate the products from "poor" - to "mediocre" to "appallingly bad".

Must be taking a lot of reporters out to lunch, huh?

Shameless Republican Race Baiting.

2008-01-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Once again the Republicans stoop to race baiting to try to maintain an electoral edge in the South.

Facing questions on displays of the Confederate flag, Huckabee called it a matter of states' rights. "You don't like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag," the former Arkansas governor said in Myrtle Beach. "In fact, if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole." - LA Times, Jan 19th 2008

While Huckabee's folksy humor is often disarming - it cannot conceal the rising desperation in the "party of old white guys."

America looks less and less like the Republican party. That simple fact is behind the Illinois laws requiring a driver's license to vote. (Now under consideration by the Supreme Court, whose right wing majority have telegraphed their contempt for overturing the clearly unconstitutional measure.)

After forty years of race baiting with the infamous "southern strategy" it is critical for the Republicans to disenfranchise Black and Latino voters. Besides simple racist yahoo-ism, this is an often overlooked factor in the anti-immigraiton drumbeat coming relentlessly from the right.

"If we let them in - they'll vote Democrat!"

As usual, Huckabee comes in firmly on the slimy side...

My Food Blog & Cookbook store.

2008-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

Folks have been asking about my cookbook store and food blog -

they are at: http://www.theperfectbite.net/

Happy Eating! - Will

CNN Political - James Dobson lauds Huckabee win

2008-01-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

This alone is reason to support anyone other than Huckabee!

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - James Dobson lauds Huckabee win « - Blogs from CNN.com

Album Release - Abstract Image - "Red Chateau"

2008-01-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to my youngest brother's first album release as I write this, and I really like it.

His band is called Abstract Image and the album is "Red Chateau"

So far my favorite track is "Turquoise".

I expected to most like the one called "Magickal Island Song", for reasons that will be well known to anyone who knows us.

Check it out!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2007-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ah, Christmas in Hollywood.

I'm used to seeing the Hootchi Mama Elves on Hollywood Blvd. (In shop windows and, ahem, working)

This one was in shop window in a mall in Glendale, CA.

Don't ya love California?

Lars and the Real Girl (withTrailer)

2007-11-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

This is easily the warmest, most touching movie I've seen all year. Go see this movie, but be prepared - it's not the yuk yuk laff-fest the premise might lead you to expect. I'd describe it as a Capra-esque mash up of Fargo and Mr Deeds goes to Town.

This movie Lars and the Real Girl
seems to me to be a perfect post-modern take on Capra; it's sentimental, sweet, and wry. gently poking fun at peoples expectations of what "normal" is, this is a great holiday season movie. It is, as they say, "life affirming", but minus the spoon feeding of "the message" that often plagues those films.

I was often ridiculed in film school for my deep fondness for Frank Capra. He was too sentimental, too kindly, not ironic or sardonic enough for the post-modern generation.

If you really need sardonic irony, "Lars and the Real Girl" features a blow up "love" doll in nearly every scene to give it the requisite post-punk edge.

Beautifully directed by Craig Gillespie, I'll be surprised if Ryan Gosling doesn't get a best actor nom for this.

View the Lars and the Real Girl - Trailer

Boston police plan to search youths' homes for guns - The Boston Globe

2007-11-18T02:45:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this story?

Boston police plan warrentless searches of youths' homes for guns - The Boston Globe

Police in Boston are beginning a program of warrentless searches of the homes of teenagers suspected of owning illegal guns.

Forget Reaganomics, this is the real "trickle down" theory. When those at the top violate our Constitution with reckless disregard then those further down feel justified in doing so as well.

Are you scared by what is happening in America yet?

BRRRRRRRRRRR!

2007-10-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on a train in Florida while they change the engine, we've been here about an hour.

I'm watching as an elderly man with a yellow dog walks by in the field outside. He's sweating, and he stops every fifteen yards or so to mop his brow and fan himself. It's about 95 degrees outside.

I am shivering, trapped inside, wrapped in a blanket and still freezing!

Have you noticed how often in this country public spaces are refrigerated to an absurd level?

I live in Los Angeles, and too often I have to bring sweatshirts to public places; not because it is cold out, but because it is cold in. The last few times I have checked into a hotel, the room's thermostat was set all the way down, at 60 or in one case 50 degrees.

Could we consider cooling rooms to a comfortable 76 degrees? How much electricity would we save annually if we moderated this wretched excess?

Mellencamp song about 'Jena Six' upsets mayor - CNN.com

2007-10-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Mellencamp song about 'Jena Six' upsets mayor - CNN.com

In response to a new video by John Mellencamp decrying the racist incidents in Jena, the town's mayor Murphy R. McMillin was recently quoted by CNN as saying -

"To put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory."

So how does the hanging of nooses on a tree called "The White Tree" to keep black students away not put it in the same league? It is clearly meant to invoke the horrific history of lynching, and is a terrorist act. The kids responsible for hanging the nooses should be prosecuted under federal anti - terrorism statutes.

Perhaps if the mayor spoke out against the teenage thugs who hug the nooses rather than those criticizing it we'd have reason to believe him?

"Land o' Goshen Clarabelle, that shore is a purdy frock..."

2007-10-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

On the chain of woman's clothing stores called "Dress Barn" the thought strikes me -

Have you ever seen anything as disastrously branded as 'Dress Barn Woman"?

The brand simultaneously evokes the phrases - "big as a barn", "raised in a pigsty", "she's a hefir" , "what a cow", "Soooooeee!" and so many more...

Maybe they were going for a sensible folksy rusticity, but c'mon!

"Land o' Goshen Clarabelle, that shore is a purdy frock..."

I'm just sayin'...

Bush hints at spending more on children's health bill - CNN.com

2007-10-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bush hints at spending more on children's health bill - CNN.com

Once again the Bush administration is grossly distorting the truth for political gain. According to CNN -

Bush used his radio address to once again make the case that he believes the spending increase sought primarily by Democrats is a step "toward their goal of government-run health care for every American."
"Government-run health care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes from the private market," he said. "It would cause huge increases in government spending."

Not one of the Democratic frontrunners has proposed a plan that would create anything like "government-run health care." All of the leading candidates have proposed plans that leave health care to private practice, but offer a government administered insurance pool for those who choose to use it or cannot obtain or afford private coverage.

You will be free to keep the private coverage you have now. The quality of care we receive will not change, and can be delivered at less cost because private insurers will not be milking the system for their personal profit.

(They will still be free to milk those who choose to stay with for-profit insurers.)

What is really going on here is the sheer panic in the Republican ranks that the tide is turning, that people in the US are sick and tired (literally) of being forced to patronize for profit insurers. That insurance industry is a huge cash cow for Republicans, donating literally billions to them to maintain the seriously broken status quo.

Apple Issues Warning on Hacked iPhones - Newser

2007-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Apple Issues Warning on Hacked iPhones - Newser

Apple announced today that the $600, er $400, IPhones which users have hacked to work on cell networks other than AT&T will be destroyed by an upcoming software update. The update will also flag the phones as being ineligible for warranty service.

Let me just say one thing about cellphones - It's time Americans started demanding the ability to change networks as easily as popping in a new chip. The stranglehold of multi-year contracts that cellular carriers have us all locked into is just plain wrong. Instead of punishing their best customers, Apple should be taken to task for their part in perpetuating this madness. People have a right to choose the device and carrier we want, and to change their minds. (See Stephen Levy's article on this in Newsweek - published two weeks after this post.)

One of my friends (a Mac junkie from way back) recently described Macs as the choice of "a young hip generation." I nearly choked laughing. Those are same unique and free hipsters who all rushed out to cover themselves with tribal tattoos and pierce their tounges in the 90's - "I want to be a unique individual just like everybody else." Don't get me wrong, Macs are incredibly well designed computers, and the IPhone is a very cool gadget. But the idea that you are somehow "free" or more creative because you let Apple package, and therefore control every aspect of your life is ridiculous.

Apple's marketing is undeniably brilliant, but totally at odds with their practices in the marketplace. While Microsoft is controlling in the market, Apple is hugely controlling on its users systems. ITunes won't let you play ITunes downloads anywhere except in their software and on their devices. While they are busy strangling their users, Steve Jobs announces "He's opposed to Digital Right Management." This is classic Orwellian double speak, crafted to bolster their carefully constructed image of freedom and creativity.

I've been in the midst of a month long effort to undo the file system carnage that ITunes has done to my carefully constructed music library. I plan to move to an open source system. Though the Ipod is a really cool gadget, my next media player will not be an Apple one. The software roadblocks Apple puts up to keep you locked into slavery to them are amazing.

When will these Apple crazed robots stop drinking the cool aid?

IPhone, no thanks!

MahJong Causes Epilepsy!

2007-08-04T06:47:00.001-07:00

This is weird and wonderful - it appears that playing mahjong can cause epilepsy.

(I'd guess it really triggers a preexisting condition, meaning it's not covered under your policy...)

"Epileptic seizures can be provoked by a wide variety of triggers, but one cause increasingly evident to researchers is the playing - or even watching - of mahjong." - BBC News.

Hairspray!

2007-08-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

Go see this movie.

Right now!

Stop reading this and go see Hairspray!

It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 20 years since the original John Waters movie came out.

This one features Alison Janney as Prudence Pingleton, and John Waters has a great cameo as the "flasher who lives next door" in the opening number.

I've had a real soft spot in my heart for Nikki Blonsky (who plays Tracy Turnblad) since I met here last year when she was one of the the grand marshals for LA Gay pride.

She leaned in and whispered to me - totally without guile or ego "doing this makes me feel like I am taking a first step toward my career goal of becoming a gay icon."
Completely startled I responded - "First step honey? it means you've arrived!" She grinned and looked like she was going to burst into tears.

I've loved her madly ever since... Plus - she sings her heart out in this movie!

Guliani offers health care plan - New York Times

2007-08-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

Giuliani Offers Health Care Plan - New York Times

"Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday offered a consumer-oriented solution to the nation's health care woes that relies on giving individuals tax credits to purchase private insurance. Critical to Giuliani's plan is a $15,000 tax deduction for families to buy private health insurance, instead of getting insurance through employers...

...The former New York mayor said as more people buy plans, insurers will drop their prices, making insurance affordable to those who lack it now."

I'm curious, on what planet will private insurers drop their prices because they are selling more?

This is the critical flaw of so many of the "health care" plans that are in the offing - they don't address providing health care, but instead want to provide health care "coverage" through private insurers. When was the last time your "coverage" actually covered something without attempting to exclude, co-pay, or otherwise transfer the expense to you, the customer? (Assuming you are "lucky" enough to have coverage at all.)

The insurance industry is full of crooks and thieves*, and the government has virtually abandoned attempts to regulate it on behalf of consumers.

How did we get to the state in this country where people's suffering is a virtually unregulated fountain of profit for big corporations? We got there in large part due to Ronald Reagan, who set about dismantling government oversight in nearly every aspect of American life under the disingenuous rubric of "big government is bad."
______________________________________

*Crooks and thieves can be loosely translated in this context as folks with MBA's. Business schools have virtually destroyed every industry in which their graduates work due to an essentially flawed model. See the excellent article on business sustainability, efficiency and redundancy in this months Mother Jones.

How sweet is this?

2007-07-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

While visiting Provincetown I bicycled past this house each day. Doesn't it look like an Edward Hopper painting?

I totally fell in love with this house, which was built in 1870. It is right on the Cape Cod Bay waterfront in the East End of town.

Pity it's on the market for nearly 3 million dollars though...

Yikes!

Center Theatre Group Brings Kids to Live Theatre

2007-07-11T17:54:00.001-07:00

White House threatens to veto hate-crimes bill - CNN.com

2007-07-11T10:52:00.000-07:00

White House threatens to veto hate-crimes bill - CNN.com

The house recently passed a bill adding sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to federal hate crimes laws. The bill clearly specifies that it applies only to violent crimes, yet right wing Christians are flooding the talk radio airwaves with a drumbeat of distortion claiming it will muzzle their "free speech." Under this bill the hate mongering speech of "Christian" pastors remains just as protected as that of the KKK or the American Nazi party.

This is the type of bizzare emotional manipulation being put out against this bill:

""If your grandmother is mugged, it won't be a big deal [unless she is a lesbian]," Knight said. "And the law-enforcement authorities may have to put more of their revenues toward the mugging, say, of a homosexual guy walking down the street."

Veto this bill or the cops won't care when your sweet Grandma is mugged? Huh?

In a cheesy sop to his evangelical Christian base, Bush has threatened to veto this bill if it passes the Senate. Once again the Bush regime is capitalizing on homophobia to manipulate the political process for thier own gain.

This is almost unbelievable. How could any thinking person oppose this legislation?

View the HRCF hate crimes bill public service announcement.

(If you have a soul, it'll make ya cry.)

down the primrose path...

2007-07-09T11:25:00.001-07:00

Or the daylily path actually. This is the path that leads to the guest house I am staying at in Provincetown. Is this adorable or what?

As I spend more time on the Cape I am aware how much my sensibilities have been shaped by the time I spent on Cape Cod in my childhood.

When I was looking for my house in Lost Angeles there were all sorts of very "un-LA" criteria that seemed random to me at the time. (Clapboards or shingles, mature deciduous trees, working fireplace, front porch, etc.) I realized after coming back to the Cape that they were all characteristics of houses here. I'd move back in a heartbeat if it wasn't so freakin' cold in the winter...

Red Sox ballcaps for my Sister...

2007-07-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

My sister asked me to pickup a "not MLB, but more girly" Red Sox cap for her while I was in Massachusetts. This picture is so she can virtually window shop...

Pilgrim Monument at Sunset.

2007-07-07T17:23:00.001-07:00

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Pilgrim Monument. This morning I toured the local Masonic lodge and learned that the Monument's cornerstone was laid by Teddy Roosevelt using a masonic trowel forged by Master Mason Paul Revere.

How cool is that!

The Fourth of July

2007-07-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on the dock of the bay. (Literally!) It's the Fourth of July. The twilight is deepening, spreading over the bay as the fireworks start down in Harwich.

I've been thinking about freedom, and what this holiday means in our post 9/11 world.

Thinking about the President's mantra that “They hate us for our freedom.” I don't think it's freedom they hate, but rather the results of freedom. One thing Don Rumsfeld was right about – freedom is untidy.

Free people loot pension funds, and they wear risque clothing. They drink and smoke, and their kids shoot up schools. Some of them have gender reassignment surgery. They also lay down their lives to save people they've never met from fires, and give food to strangers who have none.

A lot of them gave their lives to defend this experiment we call America.

Notice I said "to defend" this experiment. There was time when wars were undertaken to defend freedom, either ours or someone else's, not to instill it where it never existed. It's a shame we've allowed our leaders to try to roll this idea out to the rest of the world in such an incompetent way.

One thing I am sure of – freedom gives me the right to be who I am, even if it annoys the $%@# out of you.

My third grade teacher used to say - my right to swing my arm ends where your nose begins. Before the right of freedom comes the responsibility of tolerance. This is why our experiment won't work in the middle east just yet. This is also why our homegrown fundamentalists who insist that we should all do as they believe are dead wrong.

Tolerance has to come first, the the untidiness of freedom can begin.

Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod Mass

2007-07-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, Pleasant Bay. This is what I just drove 3000 miles for.

Barlows Clam Bar, Rt 6, Bourne Mass.

2007-07-03T11:05:00.001-07:00

My final stop before arriving on Cape Cod is Barlow's Clam Bar on Rt 6 in Bourne, overlooking the Cape Cod Canal. I just discovered this place a few years ago. They do a very good lobster roll, one avoiding all the more common pitfalls. They also have lobster "photo ops" where you can stick your head though and be photographed as a giant lobster - which is a big hit with the two to four year old set.

A few worlds on the lobster roll -

It MUST be on a New England style hot dog roll, ideally split and buttered, and toasted to a golden brown on the grill. A hamburger bun is NOT ok, nor is (gasp) a bulkie roll, a grotesque perversion of the New England classic common to expat New Yorkers. (The Bulkie is way too chewy, and overpowers the lobster meat with its floury-ness.)

All that goes into the lobster roll is lobster meat* and a leaf or two of lettuce, ideally Boston lettuce, but butter lettuce will do in a pinch. Romaine is icky in this context, and Mesclun way too gourmet, and thus liable to incite ridicule. A generous gob of Mayo is traditional (and yummy) but may be omitted by the phobic. It is usually served in a cardboard sleeve, and may be accompanied by fries, onion rings or chips.

If the lobster has been too salad-ized with the addition of celery or god forbid scallions the proprietor should be spanked early and often.

Barlow's meets all these criteria, has a great view of the canal. It is just about two minutes south of the Sagamore bridge on the West side of the canal. It's a good deal too, at $2-3 dollars less than most places over the bridge, and it includes fries. (I remember when Lobster rolls were $4.99 on the Cape. Sigh!)

* A good lobster roll won't be all claw meat, but a generous mix of the whole beast.

Barlows

Lake Erie

2007-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

The view of Lake Erie from a bluff side park near the White Turkey.

White Turkey Drive In

2007-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today I had lunch at the The White Turkey Drive In, in Conneaut, Ohio. This place was founded in 1952, and hasn't changed one bit since. It was by far the most charming and atmospheric of the joints I visited on this trip, and had shady picnic tables out back surrounded by a beautiful perennial garden.

I had the the turkey sandwich called the "Large Marge." (No, it's not named for the lesbian ghost trucker in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but for the restaurant's original proprietress.)

I can only describe the sandwich as a "pulled turkey" sandwich. It is startlingly like North Carolina BBQ, but made with white meat turkey instead of pork. It was topped with bacon and American cheese. It was delicious, and very vintage-y in character as you'd expect from the looks of this place. It was accompanied by a delicious real milkshake, freshly made and with globs of vanilla ice cream still slightly unblended. The onion rings were good, but of the crumb breading type, which is not my favorite. (My mother's onion rings were arguably the gold standard, closely followed by those at Liam's on Nauset Beach in Orleans Mass on Cape Cod.)

This place was so sweetly retro-Americana that I was nearly moved to tears while waiting for my sandwich. (I'm funny that way.)

I suddenly understood the much vaunted charm of the Midwest. I confess this has previously largely escaped me.

Plus the state flag of Ohio is a pennant, the only one in the US, which is way cool.

Gray Bros. Cafeteria, Mooresville IN

2007-06-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Keely aware of the irony, as my trusty sidekick at home nurses "the gout", I have continued my cross - country junk food fest here in Mooresville Indiana, with a plate of Hoosier Chicken.

Lunch at the Grey Bros Cafeteria is an experience in belt loosening midwestern goodness. I get in line after recovering from the oddly creepy sensation of entering a room filled with two hundred white people. (Remember, I live in Los Angeles, the most integrated city in America. We just don't have rooms full of white people.) It feels like an odd inversion of the scene in Animal House where they go to the black nightclub. It is odder still because I am the only one creeped out. (For those of you who may not know me personally, at this point I should confess to being Caucasian.)

Turning back from digression to digestion; Hoosier Chicken is fried chicken enrobed in a softball sized lump of chicken gravy. The gravy is so thick that calling it chicken pudding would really be more accurate. The crispy coating of the chicken sops up the gravy and becomes a deliciously soft chicken ambrosia. It has that unmistakable muted cafeteria taste, no sharp flavor's or unruly spices, but rich and delicious nonetheless. The slaw is mild and just slightly tart, flecked with a seed that manages to be simultaneously tasty and indiscernible. (Celery seed? Too small for Craway Seeds...)

The vegetables appear to come from the massive central cookery where all cafeteria veggies sold in the US are made. The only discernible difference to southern cafeteria / boarding house veggies is the absence of bacon fat.

I closed out the meal with a slab of butterscotch pie, and washed it down with endless glasses of unsweetened iced tea.

A totally delicious meal, and once again lunch keeps me full through breakfast the next day.

Arthur Bryant's BBQ, yet again...

2007-06-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

It's a good eight hours after I had lunch at Arthur Bryant's, and I am STILL full.

I consider myself extremely fortunate among coastal dwellers, because this is the third (or fourth?) time I have been privileged to eat at Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City, MO. (Calvin Trillin calls this the best restaurant on the planet.)

The first time I went I was under-impressed. Gasp! Probably because I had the pulled pork, which is not really the thing here as Mr Bryant hailed from Texas originally. Not being a big brisket lover, and unable to eat ribs due to orthodontia; I opted for the burnt ends sandwich this time - and it was utterly spectacular. Smoky and sweet, with a crunchy richness and a lingering mildly hot finish.

Great people watching here - perhaps the most integrated place I've ever been in the Midwest. Everyone is slightly hushed, as befits a temple; united in awed reverence for the piles of smoky perfection slathered in the incredible sauce, which Jane Stern calls "nearly a soul food curry." It's not a bad description.

In line I stood in front of a six lucky culinary school students, on a field trip with their supervising chef. All of them asking her: "Chef, Chef" should I have the brisket, or the ribs?" etc. In a motherly style she coordinated their orders so between them they had combo plates which managed to include every single thing on the menu. I picked up on the culinary school vibe and said to the chef "Great field trip." and she positively beamed.

The only thing I regret is that it's a twenty hour drive from home...

Mom's Cafe, Salina Utah

2007-06-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

Mom's Cafe - 10 E Main St, Salina Utah.

This is a spectacularly worthy detour off of I-70 in Utah, it's also the last good food (or any food except live rattlesnake) for the next 120 miles heading eastbound.

Salina looks like a Hollywood movie set of a cowboy town. Mom's sits square on the most prominent corner in town. Mom's has been dishing up breakfast and lunch to the ranchers in these parts for over seventy years.

This was my second visit to Mom's (My first was two years ago with my Dad.) This time I went whole hog - chicken fried steak slathered in cream gravy, a "scone" (which in Utah means a piece of fry bread.) , mashed taters, corn and sour cream blueberry pie for desert. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the taters which seemed to come out of a box, but I can forgive that, as the chicken fried steak was a revelation.

Urp! It's nearly ten hours later and I'm still full.

This pace is really, really good, and qualifies as what folks in my generation sometimes call a "Flo" restaurant. (A TV reference to the character Flo in the 70's tv show"Alice")

In a bit of nearly surreal synchronicity, just as I drove out of town I got a call from my roommate back in LA, who had just been diagnosed with gout. Gout?

Maybe it's good thing that I live seven hundred miles from Mom's.
_________________________________________

PS: This is my first ever mobile phone post.... Cool, huh?

Life's a Beach...

2007-06-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

Mad Cow or Mad FDA?

2007-05-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease." - USA Today

Can you believe this? A private company want to test all of its beef, using the same tests the government uses and the administration is trying to stop them, claiming "false positive" tests may provoke panic.

Oxycontin not adddictive?

2007-05-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

From the "can you believe this" dept...

"Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said."

- NY Times May 11th 2007

Really, it's not addictive, just ask Rush Limbaugh...

Not a Healthcare Crisis, but an Insurance one.

2007-04-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

From a recent NY Times article on long term care insurers:

“The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims,” said Mary Beth Senkewicz, who resigned last year as a senior executive at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. “They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.”

As you read the NY Time article, bear in mind the Bush administration wants to dismantle Medicare and force everyone into the greedy clutches of exactly these private insurers. The radical free market wing of the Republican party argues that private business can meet people's needs more effectively than government programs. What is clear is that what big business does best is to protect the interests of big business.

Every interaction I have had with my insurance in the last few years has been an exercise in frustration. The process has deliberately been made complex so that they can deny claims. No form in triplicate - denied! Form electronically submitted - denied! Form not electronically submitted - denied!

The best thing we could do for health care in the county is bar private health insurance from the market in favor of single payer. Did you know that what the insurance companies spend on lobbying congress every year is more than enough to insure every uninsured person in this country? Imagine where we'd be if the administration had targeted that profound waste of resources instead of squandering billions on the war in Iraq.

Bush accuses Dems of "Using Troops as leverage to win domestic political battles."

2007-03-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

From the "it takes one to know one" dept....

"President Bush on Saturday accused Democrats who are moving anti-war legislation through Congress of using troops as leverage to win domestic political battles."

Wait a minute - do they think the public is completely stupid? Using the troops to win domestic policy battles is the Bush regime's stock in trade. Aren't these the same folks who silence debate by accusing anyone who disagrees with them of "not supporting the troops"?

The appalling medical care crises in the VA goes hand in glove with the administration's disdain for the middle class and the poor.

The window dressing around "fixing" the VA crisis ignores the fact that caring for the service folks wounded in this war will cost billion and billions of dollars for the next thirty or forty years. These funds have not been allocated under any of the President's supplemental spending bills. In this bit of budget sneakery, "supplemental" can be translated as "we don't want to fess up to the war's real cost, either in dollars or lives." They'd prefer to pass those costs along to your great-grandchildren, the better to force dismantling the social safety net down the road.

The administration clearly doesn't really care about effectively managing policy to provide for the troops*, they care about "appearing" to care about the troops.

As Edward Albee said in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe: "Truth or illusion George, truth or illusion?"

*Actually the President doesn't cotton to policy at all, given his professed disdain for reading.

Snorkeler, mistaken for rodent, shot.

2007-02-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

NEWS OF THE WEIRD -

It seems a man named Roderick mistook a snorkeler in a river in Eugene, OR for a Nutria, and shot him in the face at point blank range.

Despite sounding uncannily like a sports nutrition beverage, a Nutria is a capybera-esque rodent, bigger than a muskrat, but smaller than a beaver.

As the shooter was in possession of crystal meth at the time of the shooting, the story appears to be page from Hunter S. Thompson, a wacky crystal-meth induced hallucination.

On the other hand, perhaps the shooter is a hunting buddy of Dick Cheney's.

"Roderick told deputies he thought Cheesman was a nutria swimming in the Smith River near Reedsport, about 90 miles southwest of Eugene, and shot him with a .22-caliber rifle, police said." - CNN

It's a tad reminiscent of Jimmy Carter's unfortunate rabbit-wacking incident.

Though they have quite similar teeth, as you can see the rodent above looks totally unlike a snorkeler....

How would a patriot act?

2007-01-31T08:03:00.000-08:00

Where's the Presidents "straight up or down vote" rhetoric now?

Did you know that the President just fired 7 Deputy US Attorneys, in districts around the country; not because they weren't doing their jobs, or because they were corrupt, but because they didn't share Albert Gonzalez' radical ideology? This crass political maneuver is a last ditch effort to retain influence over law enforcement. The President's desire for political due process has gone out the window after the "whupping" the Republicans were delivered in the mid term elections.

Last year, while comfortably in the majority, the President spoke often of nominees for federal positions deserving "a straight up or down vote." Now, knowing he's unable to continue to foist his radical ideology on us, he's crassly manipulating the law and the political process to avoid an up or down vote on his nominees.

"In March 2006, President Bush signed the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. Included in that bill was a provision allowing interim U.S. attorneys appointed by the president to serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation." - Radley Balko, quoted in Fox News.

This means that his seven new appointees can serve the rest of Bush's term of office, with no "up or down vote" and in defiance of the constitutional protections against the potential abuses of the executive branch.

This Rovian maneuver clearly illustrates the thinking of the radicals who've hijacked the Republican party: to wit, "if we can't win fair and square we'll just stack the deck."

Having been given a drubbing in the "straight up or down vote" arena, it seems the President has lost his taste for democracy...

James Hartline - Have you seen this nutbag?

2007-01-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the blog of this San Diego "ex-gay" nutbag?

Hmmmm...

For someone who claims to be an "ex-gay" he sure spends a lot of time thinking about naked men...

"I hope God will help us shoot down their planes."

2007-01-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

"I hope God will help us shoot down their planes."

- Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, a leader of the Somali Islamic Party currently at war with Ethiopia.

What the F#ck?

Call me old fashioned, but it's hard to imagine that God is interested in shooting down planes....

The Somali government has been in a shambles since the longstanding dictatorship was toppled there in 1991. The US backed government has failed, and the government's effectiveness there is limited to a small area surrounding the capital. The country is now a haven for Al Qaeda, who are using it as a base to expand militant Islamic hegemony in the horn of Africa.

Hmmm...

Am I having Deja Vu?

A Child's Christmas in Hollywood

2006-12-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

People say there are no seasons in LA, but the signs of Christmas are everywhere -

Santa hats have appeared on the Styrofoam wig forms in the shops on Hollywood boulevard.

The hookers have broken out their red patent leather boots.

The scientologists have fired up the snow machine at the "sit on Santa’s lap" personality testing center.

All is right with the world.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Ahem

The one below is especially good - "Santa as Creepy Voyeur." Ah, Hollywood!

Tea at the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok

2006-11-20T01:26:00.000-08:00

On my third day in Thailand I investigate the bastion of Old Bangkok elegance known as the Oriental Hotel.

The most cost effective way to do this is by having Tea in the Authors' Lounge, connected to the hotel’s library, where the likes of Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham took their tea.

It occurs to me that this year I have been stalking Noel Coward. Through an unexpected series of filial obligations I have found myself in both Capri and Bangkok in the same year. (I know, how sad for me...)

Odder still, in both places I visited the homes of prominent expat-homos who frequently entertained Noel. (To clarify, they weren’t entertaining me; lest I give the wrong impression both expat-homos are long since dead, and their houses are now museums.)

I knew I’d be soaked in sweat by the time I walked back to my hotel to change. I bought a linen shirt from one of the vendors at Wat Arun, figuring I could change into it at the Oriental’s dock. The woman wanted 200 bhat. ($5.46 US), but when I mangled a few words in Thai she obligingly dropped the price to 150 bhat ($4.10 US.) Sold!

I arrive at the Oriental by Chao Phraya riverboat which disembarks at the public dock next to the hotel. I pass through a fetid alley full of caged live poultry and lizards, which makes for a surreal contrast to the swanky lizards staying next door. I struggle to pull the too small, button-less linen shirt over my head without staining it too much with sweat and dust.

As I pass the guardhouse to enter the hotel my heart sinks. A tasteful placard reads – “No Sandals or Bush Jackets Allowed.” What bit of weird stiff upper lip Britishness is this? No Sandals? It’s 98 degrees fer Chrissake! I gaze down at my grimy feet, and engage in a peculiarly odd bit of denial in which I convince myself that Birkenstocks aren’t really sandals. That piece of mental gymnastics complete, I forge brazenly ahead.

The Author’s Lounge is a glassed in fantasia of white wicker, potted palms and Victoriana. I think of my Mom, telling me to eschew white wicker furniture on the porch lest my home be mistaken for a nail salon. I laugh when I realize that this is the exact Victorian-tropical elegance that all those salons are aping….

I imagine that the beautiful hostess glances downward at my grimy feet, though she doesn't. She escorts me around the corner to a table well out of sight of the main room. I am verging on miffed, and perhaps more so when I realize I’ve been ghettoized; this is clearly homo – corner.

The table across from me is occupied by a pair of haughty French queens, both immaculately attired in freshly ironed polo shirts, with matching tropic-weight cotton sweaters tied around their shoulders. (Oh, puhleeze Mary!) Their shoes are obviously très cher. The blonde one gives me the once over. His lip curls when he spies my footgear. I nod hello and he ignores me, turning to his partner and shrugging distainfully, as if to say – “Americans, always under dressing for all the wrong reasons.”

Next to them is single British gentlemen, straight, but British and alone, and therefore highly suspect. He is wearing sensible brown suede track shoes, not elegant, but definitely not sandals.

I console myself with the realization that I am seated at the door of the hotel’s library, done up in Writers on safari photos. (Hemmingway, natch!) I muse that at least Noel would have been seated in homo – corner as well. (At least until he became the darling of the West End, and thus earned better billing.)

I order a pot of “The Oriental” tea, and the “Old Siam Tea Set”, which is a high tea with a distinctly “Anna and the King” flavor. Mango tarts, Sticky Rice Cakes, and delicious curried chicken salad, as well as the requisite cucumber sandwiches. The tea set is accompanied by “The Oriental Blend” – a tea created especially for the Hotel by the East India Company. It’s all too British Raj for words, which is a bit weird since Thailand is the only Southeast Asia county which was never colonized by anybody. I’m all for fantasy so I go with it.

I give one more go at being friendly with the French boys, but the taller one just prissily crosses his feet at the ankle and pointedly admires his footwear, while the short one ignores me. So much for improved Franco – American relations. While I wait for my tea a parade of Americans in Sandals passes through on their way to the pool, and I feel simultaneously vindicated and a bit embarrassed. Moments later the Gendarmes Du Fashion sign their check and leave.

Much to my amazement the hostess returns with a trio of high glam Thai ladyboys, who are ensconced where the French boys sat. The tallest one looks like a cross between Ralph Cruz and Imelda Marcos, and keeps his BIG Jackie-O dark glasses on throughout tea. They are much friendlier, and though we can only exchange a few words I do discern that they are effusively using “Ka” for each other – a Thai pronoun which in this context loosely translates as“the speaker is a lady, and expects to be treated as such.” Interspersed among their Thai banter are the words “Fabulous”, and “O La La”, no doubt in deference to the tables' previous occupants.

I don’t understand that much of their words, but I quickly realize that “dish” is a nearly universal language, and I am able to smile in all the right places, which tickles them no end.

Plus, they don’t even glance at my shoes…

What's Bangkok Like?

2006-11-20T01:12:00.000-08:00

Somebody asked me on the phone yesterday what Bangkok was like.

This mailbox says it pretty well - there's Bangkok, and then there's other places...

Errata Dept - cross cultural mis-under-estimation.

2006-11-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

Classic Thai-glish phrase spotted on the website for a resort hotel in Phuket:

"Landscape in secret garden bring you to maximum relaxation pressure."

I thought bringing you to maximum relaxation pressure was what all those girls in the Patapong night market in Bangkok were about?

Or maybe Mr. Bush wrote their promo materials...

Bangkok's New Suvarnabhumi Airport

2006-11-18T21:57:00.000-08:00

I am a BIG aviation buff. I typically arrive at the airport two to three hours before my flight, partly because I am descended from my paternal grandmother, (she worried) and partly because I just love airports. Thusly, I was thrilled to be arriving in Bangkok a mere ten days after the opening of the brand spankin’ new Suvarnabhumi Airport. (For those of you not up on your East Asian news, Suvarnabhumi is the biggest & newest single building commercial aviation terminal in the world.)

I had been watching the press reports of problems with Suvarnabhumi with mixed feelings – cracked runways, creepily isolated woman’s restrooms, and major baggage handling problems. These are the same sort of things that plagued DIA when it opened.

“Cut the folks a break” I mused, opening the single largest transit terminal building in the world can’t be trouble free.

I want to preface this with a cautionary note. This post is not in any way a reflection on the Thai people. They are perhaps the most hospitable and charming people on the planet. That said, the new airport is a friggin’ mess. The Thai airport staff reflect a deep mortification – what was to be the pride of Thailand is, so far, a disaster. They are now discussing delaying the “official” opening (at which the beloved King presides, so as not to taint his Majesty with the problems.) Suvarnabhumi is beautiful, spectacular even, but is missing such obvious accouterments as chairs, to say nothing of toilets.

This airport cost nearly 4 billion US dollars. I am therfore somewhat stunned to find that there is nowhere to wait for your plane. The gates are sealed off from all airport facilities behind individual security checks. On paper this sounds good, as it tightly controls access to the planes, but it means that the entire terminal area is exposed to any hijinks that anyone may wish to perpetrate. (This in a country plagued by a brutal Muslim insurgency, given to blowing up Buddhist schools full of five year olds because at 3% of the population they can’t win elections.)

My flight time is two hours away, the gate has yet to be posted, and there is not a single chair in the airport! The lack of waiting areas has forced people to improvise seats out of decorative planters and suitcases. I half expect to see tent cites springing up like mushrooms by the check in counters.

As I listen to a German tourist bellowing behind me, I reflect that it was probably a German architect who designed this place. It is eerily beautiful, a bauhaus-esque machine for flying, yet totally unusable for any human purpose. Since the WiFi is unlocked and free, a few mouse click reveals this to be true – a man named Werner Sobek of Stuttgart, Germany designed this mess.

What is it with architects and designers that they become so enamored of their design concept that they forget people have to use the spaces they create?

The Wedding Banquet

2006-11-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Most of my friends know that this trip to Asia is centered around a wedding reception for my Brother and his Wife. (They were married last spring in New York, where they live. This reception was for her Father, family and friends back home in Taiwan.)

In the photo, my Brother and his Wife enter the banquet hall amid a cloud of steam. (Not dry ice smoke, but steam, presumably to ensure wrinke free garments.)

I know you're waiting with baited breath for the Banquet Menu -

It was -

Appetizers including Braised Pork Tendon, Dried Shrimp, Crispy Walnuts, Salted Peanuts and Fava beans, and unidentifiable sticky things.

and then seven more courses, plated as follows -

Roast Suckling Pig, Dried Mullet Caviar on Daikon-ish squares, Jellyfish Salad, Tuna Sushi and Bean Curd Rolls (not like egg rolls, but wrinkly bean curd skin like in western Honshu in Japan rolled up in a sauce.)

Fried Rice Dumplings (These had a soft texture like moochi balls, the rice must be ground into a powder) rolled in peanut dust.) YUM!

Steamed Sharksfin soup with Hasma Crabmeat. Very delicious, but extremely rich and a tad gelatinous for western tastes.

Braised abalone with black mushrooms in oyster sauce. Very good, and a special thrill since harvesting Abalone is illegal at home.

Cracked lobster (more like GIANT crabs) with scallions and fish sauce. Tragically, this got cold as we made our introductions.

Steamed Star Garoupa (a tender whitefish, steamed whole but plated in chunks.) This was subtly accented with Yunnan Ham, Bean Curd and red dates on a mess o’ braised lotus leaf. (Incredibly good!)

Baked Seafood (shrimp, fish, unidentifiable oceanic creatures) in a thai-ish curry fried rice.

The banquet finished with a tripartite dessert, including something that I can only describe as a pomegranate cobbler, (Indescribably good!) Cherry ice cream, and an orange infused flannish - custard.

It took nearly five hours, including synchronized dancing waiters bearing flaming trays into the dining room to the Vangelis "Chariots of Fire" theme, smoke effects, lighting cues, columns of fire, slide shows (film noir-ish Shanghai private eye wedding photos, with my Brother’s Wife looking like a much sexier Mother Gin Sling and honorable Brother looking mortified.) There were also three bride / groom costume changes. Again, shy and honorable Brother looking simultaneously tickled pink and completely mortified.

I am told that the reception drew on Taiwanese weddign tradition, but mixed in western elements. (Like an enourmous plaster wedding cake on the platform, and the white dresses etc. A lot of the razzle-dazzle is stuff that is currently popular in Taiwan.

During dinner, we were escorted around the room and introduced individually to the 300 guests, toasting with each of them. The amazing thing is, this event was about half the size of some banquets.

Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan)

2006-11-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

Taipei was a surprise to me – bustling, (expected) sophisticated, (less expected) and filled with incredibly friendly and welcoming people. After the serene order of Japan, the cheery chaos and omnipresent laughter of Taiwan was a refreshing change.

I am here for my Brother’s wedding reception. Our hotel is downtown near City Hall and directly across the street from Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building. I am a tad ashamed to admit my own ethnocentrism; I thought the tallest building was the Sears tower in Chicago. (Actually it depends on how you define “tallest”, but that is another story altogether.)

The neighborhood where we are staying is bustling with restaurants, shops and theatres, interspersed with peculiarly staid and massive 1960’s chinosierie buildings honoring Chang Kai Shek. The lower floors of Taipei 101 contain the most upscale shopping center I’ve ever been in. (I live in Los Angeles, the American epicenter of the faux urban experience known as the shopping mall, so that’s saying something.)

The food court at Taipei 101 belies our image of “food court” – a breathtakingly international bounty of food is available here. I know that later Yueh Ling and her friends will take us to the night markets for some authentic Taiwanese specialties, so I go easy here. I blanch a bit at the thought of some of the food I suspect will be on offer, and time proves this instinct correct. Pig blood rice cake, steaming bowls of pig intestine, whole duck heads and “stinky tofu” which is so pungent that your eyes water at five feet.

Boarding with the Borg

2006-11-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

A lot was made in our lectures here about the Japanese socio-cultural identity favoring the group over the individual. The Japanese are raised to favor how their actions affect the group (my school, my company, my fellow passengers etc.) over thier individual needs. I have to say it's true based on my observations.

The way I saw this most clearly was in Boarding with the Borg. Flying down to Okinawa, (Doesn't that sound like an Andrews Sisters song?) I was a bit concerned as the flight had yet to board at fifteen minutes before departure. At ten minutes to departure the announcement that boarding would begin was made. The ground crew bowed three time at the waiting passengers. (Who were waiting patiently in their seats rather than clamoring at the gate as the zone five grannies from Dubuque, Iowa do in the US.)

The Japanese passengers stood, and in one smooth and amazingly rapid process flowed on board in an orderly stream and took their seats. No one stopped in the aisle to rearrange their bags, tried to change seats, or even stood in the aisle to grab thier paperback while stowing luggage.

The entire Boeing 767-400 (that's a really big plane - some 350 passengers when outfitted for Japan) was loaded, bags stowed, seat-belted and taxiing out early in under eight minutes.
It was truly stunning to me as an aircraft that size typically take 30-45 minutes to board in the US even with the flight crew pleading with people to speed it up. In the US passengers would be encamped in the aisles while they repacked thier bags, gate crashing outside thier zones, spilling thier McDonalds Mega-Huge beverages etc.

We could take a lesson from the Japanese on this one!

The view of Mr Fuji over the plane's wing.

Sayonara Japan!

2006-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Goodbye to Japan.

We flew last night to Okinawa, on our way to Taipei, Taiwan. Which was a spectacular flight - clear as a bell, so we could see Mt Fuji.

Okinawa airport was festooned with orchids - thousands of them everywhere. it was a little surreal, as I don't generally think of Japan as including tropical islands!

Then on to Taipei, on China Airlines.

Retro Sumo Wrestler Trading Cards

2006-11-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Ok - no big commentary here. These Retro Sumo Wrestler Trading Cards are just cool. - Will

The (really) big Buddha of Nara

2006-11-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, you've all heard superlatives when traveling. The biggest, best, oldest, tallest, best-est, oldest made of sheep cartilage etc. This one - Todai-Ji Temple at Nara, really is two of those things.

Todai-Ji is both the largest, and oldest wooden building in the world. It’s really, really big. As if that wasn't enough, the temple contains the biggest (old) bronze Buddha statue in the world. (There is a bigger bronze Buddha in Hong Kong, but it is modern.)

The temple is surrounded by a vast park, known for its deer - who are said to be holy messengers. Holy and hungry, as it turns out. The deer have grown accustomed to the crowds that UNESCO World Heritage status brings. As outward and visible proof of their holiness, they have figured out how to badger food from the pilgrims by bowing. (It’s a bit more like the equine head nod that horses do, but I make it a point not to quibble with deer.)

Outside the temple dozens of school kids madly fan the censure with their cheery red hats. They fan the incense smoke over their heads to invite Buddha’s blessing and make them smarter. Have you ever seen American school kids engaged in a playful ritual to make them smarter?

I was expecting a really big Buddha, and the Buddha of Todai-ji didn’t disappoint. This was Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom big. I wasn't expecting the totally breathtaking scale, nor the Buddha’s otherworldly beauty. The picture doesn’t begin convey the scale of this place. The Buddha's thumb is as big as I am. Ten men can stand on his palm. The lotus flower seen frame right in the picture is three stories tall. Those candles on the alter? Two times the size of a full grown man.

Of everything I’ve seen in Japan this place struck me the most deeply. Beautiful and holy, exotic and spectacular – it was everything I came to the East to see. The peace of the temple is so deep – it rendered the throngs of visitors invisible to me.

“The Loach Scooping Dance”

2006-11-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

Sakai – Ko & Matsue

In one of the more interesting manifestations of Japanese culture I’ve seen here I just witnessed an updated “loach scooping dance.” A loach is a small paddy and mud dwelling fish, traditionally scooped up in baskets which filter the mud and silt out and leave the fishes. The particular performer updated the traditional dance and added a twist by conjuring live loaches and eels during the act. It was pretty impressive – as a live eel is a lot more slithery to keep up your sleeve than a dove…

PS: The dance also featured a segment on the “plucking of the leeches” in which the conjurer / dancer removed leeches from his legs. Thankfully I’d already had breakfast…

Miyajima Island, the Shrine of Itsukushima-Jinja and the floating Torrii Gate

2006-11-06T04:47:00.000-08:00

Miyajima Island is the most beautiful place I've seen thus far in Japan. (Though it seems I say that each day here...)

The entire shrine is built up on piers over the bay. (Or over the mud if you are there at low tide.) Fortuitously, I was there on a full moon high tide, and the water lapped gently just below the decking. Even more fortuitously, and completely by accident, the Dalai Lama was doing a blessing at the Buddhist temple just up the hill. The monks at the shrine were all engaged in building offertory alters of evergreen boughs and performing ritual purifications as I wandered about.

Miyajima island was considered so sacred that commoners were not allowed to touch its shores. The entire temple is suspended on piers, floating over the bay. The shrine was built in the 6th century, and remodeled in 1168. Pilgrims enter the shrine through the famous “floating” torrii gate. (A torrii is the characteristic gate that always fronts a Shinto shrine. The act of entering through the gate purifies the visitor so that they may proceed to the alter(s) to make their prayers. Nowadays most visitors arrive by commercial ferry, so they have built another torrii gate over the road from the ferry terminal.

This gate is listed by the Japanese government as one if the three best views in Japan.

This is the most Pisces friendly place I’ve ever been. A Shinto shrine dedicated to purification suspended over a beautiful half moon shaped bay. (Did I mention that the roads surrounding the shrine are all jammed with vendors selling grilled oysters?) I was in fish heaven. (The foremost aquarium in southern Japan is right next door to boot, but alas I didn’t have time.)

The shrine itself is a gently meandering series of piers with various alters spread throughout. There are washing stations where you ritually wash before making a prayer or buying a fortune. (Shinto practitioners buy fortunes after making a prayer to see if the prayer will be answered.)

The Shrine’s sightlines are all oriented toward the famous “floating” Torrii gate (pictured) through which latter day pilgrims arrived. The main alter is aligned perfectly to the gate and offers a spectacular view out over the bay.

On your way back to the ferry don’t forget to have some grilled oysters!

Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo

2006-10-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up at 4:30 am to go to the Tsukiji Wholesale Fish Market in Tokyo. I shop in the wholesale markets in downtown LA fairly often, so I was expecting that this would be somewhat familiar.

Though generically similar, this was a whole different animal. (A different Sea Monster, to be more specific.) Giant squid, sea anemones, urchins, and more varieties of clams and scallops than I knew existed. Thousands of varieties of finfish and shellfish arrayed on slabs and in Styrofoam holding tanks, the hall nearly as big as an American football field.

I thought I would be able find Tsukiji by smell from the subway, but I was wrong. I had forgotten the Japanese fetish for cleanliness. Literally thousands of tons of fish move through this place daily, yet it smelled clean and fresh, oceanic in the way that a perfect oyster tastes. Instead I just followed the folks in rubber boots, and that instinct took me directly to the market. I didn't take a lot of photos of the fish themselves, because to photograph them felt like pornography. The array was so sensual it forbade the camera's crude exploitation.

What I was most unprepared for was the frenzy of the marketplace. This place is, quite simply, the agora that the term agoraphobia could have been coined for. A cacophony of whistles shrill as carts and wheelbarrows of fish are sprinted headlong from the auctions to the waiting restaurant supply trucks. The cult of freshness reaches its apogee here. In the main crossroads of the delivery area a traffic cop does a balletic pantomime, punctuated by shrill whistles, conducting the madness with meditative precision.

As a visitor, you have to remain constantly alert to avoid being run over. A single moment's inattention could prove fatal. In the midst of the maelstrom, the intense politeness of the Japanese belies the frenzy. Speedy bows and quick nods are doled out as you dance around the onslaught.

If you ever visit Tokyo, this is an experience not to be missed. (That and the bonus of unbelievably fresh breakfast sushi, only minutes removed from the fleet.)

Read more about the market in Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World.

Enroute to Tokyo (A little politeness goes a long way..)

2006-10-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way to Tokyo, aboard Korean Airlines Flight 002. I am delighted by the spectacularly good food. "Sushi on a Plane" seem a much better call than the "Snakes on a Plane" movie... (Also a delicious Korean bibimbob , with a toothpaste tube of fiery chili paste on the side!)

It's rumored that politeness goes a long way in Asia, and I quickly find it to be true, even when inadvertent.

After boarding, I got settled into my seat. Just as the chef Steward emerged from behind the curtain, I dropped my glasses and leaned down to pick them up, the gesture of an extravagant bow. Somewhat startled, but obviouly pleased, he immediately returned my deep though inadvertent bow.

From that point on I was the flight crews darling, a polite barbarian in their midst.

I remember being on a California bound flight several years earlier. A Japanese man was returning from the rest room when he encountered a very old gaijin (Caucasian - barbarian - redneck) lady. He bowed deeply, profoundly respectful of her age and experience. She nodded back with impatience. Since she returned the "bow" he bowed again, even more deeply. This exchange continued for several more bows, each more elaborate and deep than the last. She nodded back, more curtly each time. (I suspected her depends undergarments were at the end of their natural life.) He bowed even more reverently, and she finally snorted in disgust and shouldered her way past him, leaving him stunned in her wake.

This seems a profound metaphor for International relations, how easily we can inadvertantly offend in "misunderestimating" (sic) the motives of others. Let's hope greater care is taken in entering the hornet's nest of negotiation around the North Korean nuclear quesion. (or nukular as our oh so gaijin leader would have it...)

USATODAY.com - Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis

2006-10-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

USATODAY.com - Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis: "Page scandal exposes GOP's gay identity crisis"

What has been missing from the discussions in the media of the Mark Foley scandal is actually the central fact of the matter. Many of Foley's problems are not related to his being Gay, but rather to his being Republican.

"If wishes were horses then elephants would ride department" Notice that Fox News mis-labeled Foley a Democrat on the O'Reilly factor, screenshot at the left. Fair and balanced, n'est pas?)

Foley's alcoholism and totally inappropriate sexual behavior are a direct result of the repression of sexuality in our culture. The war on sexuality is the Republican's stock in trade.

The fact that his fellow Republicans routinely engage in baiting of gay issues creates a climate of shame. There are thousands of gay people in the Republican party (why I'll never know.) They live in a climate of self-hatred that is reinforced by their party's exploitive gay bashing agenda. They are, to an individual, the most miserable people I know.

Think of it this way - take a hose and turn it on full blast. Now try to stop the water flow with your hands. The harder you bear down the greater the pressure becomes. As you stop the flow in one place, the water spurts out somewhere else. Sexuality (of all kinds) operates this way - the more you try to suppress it - the more is flows out somewhere else. Mark Foley's inappropriate behavior is a direct result of a lifetime spent hiding and hating himself. His exploitation of those younger and less powerful is repulsive, but totally in keeping with the hypocrisy of his party.

I know hundreds of well adjusted, productive members of society who happen to be gay. The overarching characteristic we share is an adjustment to our sexuality that is open, freely expressed in healthy ways, and not closeted and hidden in shame.

USATODAY.com - Overseas voting a concern again

2006-09-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

USATODAY.com - Overseas voting a concern again: "Six years after problems counting overseas votes clouded the 2000 presidential election, U.S. troops and other Americans abroad face tight timetables and emerging technologies that still make it difficult to have their votes counted."

The article goes on to discuss tight timelines in absentee balloting making it difficult to qualify. My experience bears this out. I will be overseas during the election this year. Obviously I consider this to be a VERY important race.

California won't accept my absentee ballot application until October 9th - just 30 days before the election. Knowing the mind-boggling ineffeciency of Los Angeles city government, I have grave doubts that they will return my ballot to me before I leave the country on the 26th.

Imagine how much worse it is for those stationed overseas, who can't walk into the local dept of elections office with thier application in hand.

Evolution Major Vanishes From Approved Federal List - New York Times

2006-08-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Evolution Major Vanishes From Approved Federal List - New York Times:

Can you believe this? Given the Bush regime's penchent for ignoring both due process and the law, we're supposed to believe that the removal of Evolutionary Science as an approved college major for students on government grants is an "accident?"

You know, Gravity is just a theory too. Maybe they'll get to work at repealing that next.

Bush trims this year's Texas stay to 10 days. Good thing nothing important is going on ...

2006-08-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

USATODAY.com - Bush trims this year's Texas stay to 10 days: "'Last summer, he was not seen as being on top of the job,' says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. 'He doesn't want to be seen taking a whole month off right now. It doesn't look good.'"

In DC, it's all about how it looks right?

This may be a cheap shot, but "last summer he was seen as not being on top of the job? Just last summer? Is anyone paying attention?

Memo to the White House - the entire Middle East is melting down. Oh, I forgot - they have a fax machine in Crawford. That was part of what the President helpfully told us when he said the American people "don't understand the definition of work."

(You may remember that comment came when he was asked about his month long vacation in 2001 during which he ignored the intelligence reports about the impending 9/11 attacks.)

I really don't have to say any more on this one - it speaks for itself...

Mel Gibson's Drunken Anti-Semitic Tirade.

2006-07-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Chalk it up to the tequila...

When arrested last weekend for drunken driving,* Mel Gibson, director of the jolly gorefest "Passion of the Christ" allegedly burst out in an anti Semitic rant. (Apropos of what? One wonders...)

He also allegedly verbally harassed the arresting officers. The LA County Sheriff's Dept. is believed to have expunged the description of the tirade from the arrest report.

Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic outburst was 'covered up' - World - Times Online: "the arresting officer's original report said: "Gibson blurted out anti-Semitic remarks about "f***ing Jews" [and] yelled out "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," then asked [the arresting officer]"Are you a Jew?"

Given the ineptitude and arrogance of the appointments made by the Bush administration, I'm expecting the President to nominate Mr. Gibson as the next US Ambassador to Israel.

Is it any weirder than Stephen Johnson as EPA Administrator, or John Bolton as UN Ambassador?

Maybe Mel could take "make nice" lessons from Mr. Bolton.
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* Clocked going 87 mph in a 40 zone with an open bottle of tequila on the rear seat. Oy!

The Faboo Refugee, or "we might miss a beach day?"

2006-07-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

I became a refugee this week, albeit briefly, and with the full resources of Provincetown, Massachusetts at my disposal. (Espresso, Art Films, and T-shirt shops out the wazoo.)

Perhaps I should explain.

I'm spending a few weeks on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. It's off the grid, so power is supplied by a generator. I bring everything I need across the channel in an 18" outboard.

It's spectacularly beautiful, but the channel becomes impassable in even moderate blows. So when tropical storm Beryl headed our way I decided to go ashore for the night. (I am a little gun shy of storms after losing my beloved dog Lucky to a seizure during a similar storm on the island last fall.)

So I fled, hurriedly packing a few modest effects and beating a hasty retreat to Provincetown. It was funny to me that when I mentioned the storm everyone there responded "what storm?" By and large, urban folks are so out of touch with the weather. When told a tropical storm was on track to the Cape most folks responded "We might miss a beach day?"

Now I am fully aware that this exodus hardly qualifies me for UN refugee status. On the scale of human suffering, breakfasting alfresco on Crepes Forestieré and Cappuchino ranks not one iota.

We in America are so divorced from the suffering caused by natural events, and especially by wars. It takes something on our own shores like Katrina to wake us up. How quickly those of us not on the Gulf coast have forgetten.

This is especially tragic given the blinkered worldview of our administration. Now more than ever, we are strangely divorced from the suffering our actions cause worldwide as well. (See my next post on Lebanon.)

Urban Wildlife Part 26

2006-07-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was riding the # 2 bus through Hollywood and spied a truly stellar bit of urban wildlife.

At Sunset and Crescent Heights, a demurely outfitted transvestite boarded the bus. Despite her wildly unkempt wig, she was conservatively attired in an immaculately pressed suit / skirt combo. The styling would have made Nancy Reagan proud, though the dress was in lavender, not red. I mused that Nancy would have probably skipped the lacy white cuffs, as they tend to drag in one's soup.

So far this is an everyday event in Hollywood, so common as to not even attract glances from the other passengers.

The "wildlife" part was created by her accessories. (As Diana Vreeland sagely noted - it's the accessories that make the ensemble.)

Her dress was accented by a frowzy eared stuffed bunny, peeking its grimy head out of the buttons in her cleavage. The bunny was wearing an old fashioned head-wrap, as you might see in Ub Iwerks cartoons for the treatment of toothache. The bunny faced her, as if whispering private advice as she moved though her day. (A Harvey for the 21st century?)

The whole ensemble was perfectly topped off by her reading material, a dog eared copy of the Book of Mormon.

She slipped off the bus as demurely as she had gotten on, at Sunset and Vine, as befits a star.

How I love Hollywood!

- Will.

The Most Irritating Saint in Christendom?

2006-07-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

I'm returning from Italy, where I visited San Gimignano, the home of Santa Fina. One hagiographer has called Santa Fina "The Most Irritating Saint in all Christendom."

Santa Fina accepted the gift of an orange from a young man in her village, and was scolded by her mother for her wickedness. Overcome with regret, young Fina flung herself upon the kitchen table and spent the next five years praying for forgiveness, until she died. Upon her death, the table and the many towers of San Gimignano burst into bloom with violets.
Hmmm, amazing how many of the Saint's lives seem to primarily underscore a fear of sexuality.

If you visit the Duomo in San Gimignano, be sure to check out the horrific last judgement frescos - a masterpiece in the "fear of sexuality" genre.

Despite this sad tale, I beg to differ. I think the title "most irritating saint" has to go to St Triduana of Scotland - who gouged out her own eyes when a young man admired them. She then presented them to him, skewered on thorns.

Yuk!

A stream near St Triduana's burial site is said to restore sight to the blind...