It's no fun, being an Illegal Alien

I used to be a fan of Vincente Fox. He was the first man to capture the Mexican presidency from the PRI which has run the country uninterrupted since the conclusion of the Mexican Revolution almost 80 years ago. As a former Coca Cola executive, I figured he would bring good business sense to a government that from all outward appearances lacked it. I had hoped that he would end corruption and lay the foundations of economic prosperity and smooth the way for equal application of the rule of law across the nation. By making his nation stable, perhaps the most downtrodden citizens would not feel obliged to trek northward to the USA for a better life. I guess I was wrong. One need not look any further than the border each evening at dusk to glimpse the multitudes massing for their shot at economic independence to see that he has done nothing to alleviate this problem. Actually he has done something--his government has created a pamphlet that explains how to cross the border safely. From a humanitarian viewpoint this is a good idea. If people are going to cross the border illegally they may as well do it as safely as possible. From a government policy standpoint the nicest thing I can say is that it's irresponsible at best.

I saw this headline and the following story cross the newswires today:

Fox rejects stricter U.S. immigration policy and border wall

Mexico City, Jan 23, 2006 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Mexican President Vicente Fox on Monday rejected the stiffening of U.S. immigration laws and said that the proposed construction of a wall along the mutual border by his neighbor was a "disgrace."
"If they always have been on the side of democracy and the tearing down of walls, why are they building them? I don't understand it, I can't explain it to myself. It seems to me to be a disgrace," Fox said in an interview with the Televisa news show "Primero Noticias."
Fox, who will leave the presidency in November, promised "to do battle" on this matter and demanded a "comprehensive" solution to Mexico's immigration requirements.
He also demanded "an ordered, safe and legal arrangement for all of (the Mexican migrants) who are there (in the United States), and for those who are going to go there year after year."
For said that the construction of walls along the common border is in no way acceptable, but he added that the matter could be "discussed."
The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 16 approved a bill - currently being debated in the Senate - strengthening Washington's fight against illegal immigration.
The bill, which was sponsored by Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, of Wisconsin, authorizes the construction of a wall along several stretches of the border.
In addition, it makes entering the United States illegally - and helping others to do so - a criminal offense, facilitates the deportation of undocumented immigrants and increases the sanctions on employers who hire them.
(end)

Commentary

The first thing that struck me in the headline was the audacity of Fox "rejecting" the foreign policy that is being debated in our congress. Presidents of foreign nations do not have a vote in congress last time I checked. Fox has hired a PR firm to lobby our government on the matter and I have no problem with that as many nations lobby congress; but he should leave it at that.

It's clear to see that he has much to lose if we do anything drastic about the problem of illegal immigration. $17 billion in annual remittances by illegal aliens working in the USA is a nice way to paper over the real structural problems at home. Once here, the vast majority of aliens have no incentive to assimilate into the culture they now live in. Part of this is due to the fact that Mexico is so accessible, so there's no need to cut the ties to a home thousands of miles away and assimilate like so many other immigrant groups have done throughout our history. It is unfair to those legal immigrants and US citizens fighting for jobs at the entry level as a sea of illegal immigrants ensures wage depression for all. They also put a tremendous strain on all forms of our civic infrastructure. The state collects no taxes from illegal workers or the employers who knowingly flout the law which effectively sticks law abiding citizens with the bill for maintaining that infrastructure. Something that is rarely mentioned in the whole immigration debate is the impact that such a mass exodus of mostly young, able bodied men has on the villages they leave behind. Who is to play the role that these fathers, sons and husbands should be playing in their community? I fear there is a lost generation of children who will mostly know their father only as the man who sends home a check from some foreign land.

We as a nation need to find the political will to implement a "guest worker" program similiar to the braceros program that was in place in the 1940's. A key feature of that program was a certain percentage of the worker's wages were by law placed in a Mexican bank account. In theory this was a good incentive for workers to return to Mexico. In practice not much of the money ever made it back into the hands of the workers who earned it due to the endemic corruption in Mexico. Those workers who are already here illegally could pay a fine and join the program. After a grace period of say 6 months, anybody caught working here without the proper documentaion would be deported immediately and their employer heavily fined.
In the end everybody on both sides of the border would be the better for it.

Good Night Grandpa

It must be hard to argue there's no media bias when one views the photo attached to this AP story about the execution of Clarence Ray Allen lastnight. If there was no caption or accompanying story, you may be forgiven for thinking it's simply a family portrait representing 3 harmonious generations. The background even suggests it could have been taken at a Japanese Ryokan while on vacation. Now let's have a look at the text of the article:

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday, despite arguments that putting to death an elderly, blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel and unusual punishment.
(What a cruel state! Executing a helpless old man--and minutes after he finished his birthday cake. He probably still had frosting on his lips.)

Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf, (In case you already forgot he was blind, and deaf to boot!) suffered from diabetes and had a nearly fatal heart attack in September only to be revived and returned to death row, (forget the irony for a moment and imagine the outcry if he were allowed to die of a heart attack while on Death Row) was assisted into the death chamber by four large correctional officers (very important to point out the correctional officers were large--suggesting the unnecessary use of force on such a feeble and helpless old man) and lifted out of his wheelchair.

His lawyers had raised two claims never before endorsed by the high court: that executing a frail old man would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that the 23 years he spent on death row were unconstitutionally cruel as well. (As taught in law school: If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If they're both against you, call the other side names. It seems as though both the law and the facts are against him, but instead of name calling his lawyers resorted to hyperbole.)

Here's the part about the media that I find so insidious. If you don't believe me, apply this template to the next NPR story you hear. The reporter has already set the tone of the article by painting the murderer on death row as just another victim of a police state. Now we get to hear from the other side for the sake of presenting a counterpoint. I'll call it the "HOWEVER" side. After we've tolerated what the opposition has to say, the reporter returns to the original tone of the article. The final impression reinforces the first which ensures it will be lasting.

HOWEVER...

The high court rejected his requests for a stay of execution about 10 hours before he was to be put to death. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denied Allen clemency Friday.
Allen went to prison for having his teenage son's 17-year-old girlfriend murdered for fear she would tell police about a grocery-store burglary. While behind bars, he tried to have witnesses in the case wiped out, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to death in 1982 for hiring a hit man who killed a witness and two bystanders.
"Allen deserves capital punishment because he was already serving a life sentence for murder when he masterminded the murders of three innocent young people and conspired to attack the heart of our criminal justice system," state prosecutor Ward Campbell said.

Lest the "HOWEVER" part of the article make too great of an impression, we better hear from the victim, sorry, the murderer again:

Allen expressed his love for family, friends and the other death-row inmates in a final statement read by Warden Steve Ornoski. Allen ended his statement by saying, "It's a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye."

Now we finally get to hear from the family of one of his victims about three-quarters of the way into the article:

The family of one of Allen's victims, Josephine Rocha, issued a statement saying that "justice has prevailed today."
"Mr. Allen abused the justice system with endless appeals until he lived longer in prison than the short 17 years of Josephine's life," the statement said.

Now that we've heard from the "HOWEVER" side, we can return to the original--and correct--tone of the article:

Last month in Mississippi, John B. Nixon, 77, became the oldest person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed. He did not pursue an appeal based on his age. (Mississippi murders old people, too.)

Allen's case generated less attention than last month's execution of Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, whose case set off a nationwide debate over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.
(Despite the pleas of such model citizens as Hollywood stars and people with feelings nationwide, the State of California chose to murder another misunderstood citizen who only wanted to help the world by writing children's books.)

There were only about 200 people gathered outside the prison gates before Allen's execution, about one-tenth of the crowd that came out last month.
(Sadly for Mr. Allen, his name didn't have the same marquee value as Tookie's. Or maybe all that protesting is just too exhausting so soon after Tookie's execution?)

(end)

Commentary

It's hard to feel that any sort of justice is served when, once a death penalty verdict is handed down, it automatically gets bogged down in appeals for so long that the perpetrator is magically transformed into a victim over time. During the appeals process the crime is so thoroughly dissected that it gets reduced to the point that it has no meaning--where abstract notions supplant real human suffering and damage. The victim--whose right to life was violently taken by the person behind bars--has no advocate beyond family members who must surely become fatigued by the injustice and the continual reminder via appeals that the killer of their loved one is the "real" victim.
Opponents of the death penalty are right about one thing: it is not much of a deterrent in its present form. Who would be deterred from committing a pre-meditated murder when they know they can be kept alive for years through an endless process of appeals? With time and honest jail living they may even be able to convince lots of high profile people on the outside that they are the only victim in the whole sordid affair, as Tookie Williams did.
I believe the death penalty should be applied sparingly and then only in the most horrendous of crimes. But once a guilty verdict has been reached, the sentence should be carried out in the most expeditious manner possible. A guilty person should not be allowed the luxury of time to erode the seriousness of their crime. It may even act as a deterrent if it were carried out swiftly.

Happy Holidaze!

I wonder what all the secular torch-bearers who believe that any reference to religion in the public sphere is tantamount to theocratic rule will think if they recall that the word "holiday" is simply a contraction of the words "holy" and "day"?

I reckon they could take to deliberately mispelling the word as certain feminists do when they take the word "woman" and spell it "womyn".

Personally, I prefer to refer to this time of year as the "holidaze" season--as in, " there is so much partying going on I am in a boozy-holi-daze..."

Maybe I'll call the ACLU and alert them to the irony, then suggest they call it the Holidaze Season. The royalty payments should be substantial!

There's no Oil in Myanmar

My wife and I traveled to Myanmar (Burma) 4 years ago this week. We went with a partner at the firm I work for and a group that he put together. He is the founder of the Foundation for the People of Burma and has been quite active in making a real, quantifiable difference for many people there. Our reason for joining in on the trip was not necessarily humanitarian in nature. We really just wanted to see a corner of the world that is largely off the radar screen of the average world traveler. As my wife is fond of saying-we're travel tramps!
Every trip is unique in some way, but this trip was an eye opener. It's not everyday you have an opportunity to travel back in time. Burma seems to be a place frozen in the 1950's--countries ruled by military juntas or dictatorships tend to be that way it seems.
The first thing one notices about Burma is the gentleness of the people. They take their Buddhism very seriously. It's really all they have. Although we hit the few tourist destinations that exist, our itinerary focused largely on visiting the various projects the Foundation was funding around the country. The Foundation operates without the approval of the government by the way, so many of the projects are clandestine efforts. The government will let you provide humanitarian relief, but not TOO much; and you can forget about discussing politics or life outside the borders in public. Our guide warned us of this many times. I did witness a government agent following us around a deserted museum one day--not too close, but close enough to note seditious activity had we chosen to engage in any.
I've never been to North Korea but I've read enough about it to paint a picture in my mind that is not dissimilar to what we experienced traveling in Burma. The difference is that although the people are dirt poor, Burma is blessed with warm weather, fertile land and abundant water so nobody is starving or freezing to death (at least outside of the political prisoner population). However I can imagine if Burma were located at the same latitude as North Korea, the people would be just as destitute.
(For more on Burma see this link)

Today I opened the WSJ as I do most mornings and I saw this headline: U.S. Presses U.N. to Add Myanmar to Agenda. My first cynical thought was, "how odd, there's no oil in Myanmar--what business could we possibly have there?" (I'll paste the whole article as the link is subscriber only)

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.S. asked the U.N. Security Council Tuesday to put Myanmar on its agenda for the first time, accusing its military rulers of repressing political opponents including the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a letter to the council president, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton accused the regime of destroying villages, targeting ethnic minorities and failing to initiate democratic reforms. He also cited press reports that authorities in Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- are seeking nuclear power capabilities.
Russia and China blocked the last U.S. attempt to get the Security Council to discuss Myanmar in June -- and it was unclear whether they would do so again.
Mr. Bolton's letter to Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov, the current council president, was sent two days after the military government extended the house arrest of Ms. Suu Kyi, which began in May 2003. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent 10 of the last 16 years in detention.
The junta took power in 1988 after violently suppressing mass pro-democracy protests. It held a general election in 1990, but refused to recognize the results after a landslide victory by Ms. Suu Kyi's party.
In Tuesday's letter obtained by The Associated Press, Mr. Bolton said "the United States and other members of the Security Council are concerned about the deteriorating situation in Burma."
Mr. Bolton is expected to raise the issue at a Security Council meeting on Wednesday and the U.S. is hoping for a briefing later this week, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the letter has not yet been formally discussed.
Procedural rules prohibit the council from taking up issues not on its agenda, allowing nations to block discussions.
Since the last attempt in June, American diplomats have gone to several key capitals to try to convince other governments that the 15-nation council, the most powerful U.N. decision-making body, should discuss Myanmar.
China has long opposed taking up Myanmar because of its close ties to the country, while Russia is believed to object because fears such talks could lead to discussion of its breakaway Chechnya province.
In the letter, Mr. Bolton did not spell out any specific action that Washington is seeking.
He warned, however, that the flow of narcotics from Myanmar is a catalyst in spreading HIV and AIDS "and potentially destabilizing transnational crime."
In addition, Mr. Bolton wrote, the regime "has destroyed villages, targeted ethnic minorities, and forced relocations."
He also said that the government's "failure to initiate democratic reforms while repressing political opponents shows the regime's continued intent to maintain power regardless of its citizens' desires."

There are varying reports of late that the military junta that rules Burma has been moving the capital from Yangon (Rangoon) further into the interior. The reasons for this are all speculative at this point, but it seems that they might fear an attack from somebody--presumably the U.S.--in the near future, so they are moving to a more secure location. I thought that sounded like paranoia, but after reading this article their fears could be well founded. The one thing we can count on is continued Security Council non-cooperation from Russia and China. Their reasons are stated in the article, but I bet that's hardly the whole story.

Geopolitics are a tricky business. That is why it is so maddening to hear every action that is taken by the U.S. reduced to "imperial warmongering" or "profiteering for Halliburton" by the left. I am interested to see what those who say that we're derelict in our stated goal of spreading democracy around the globe--or who are angered that we're soft on rogue nuclear powers because we're not militarily involved in places like North Korea, Iran and Myanmar--have to say if anything comes of this. The chances that discussion about Myanmar makes it onto the Security Council agenda seem remote to me as long as China and Russia maintain their current stance, so I'll have to continue to wonder I suppose.

UPDATE:

U.N. Security Council delays U.S. move on Myanmar

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 12:56:09 PM (GMT-08:00)
Provided by: Reuters NewsRTRS
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday delayed a U.S. bid to have the council discuss "the deteriorating situation" in Myanmar after China asked for more time to study Washington's request.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton proposed that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brief the 15-nation council on developments in Myanmar after its military rulers last weekend extended opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year.
The U.S. attempt to put Myanmar formally on the Security Council's agenda would clear the way for later council actions including the adoption of statements and resolutions.
Instead the council put off the proposal at China's request, council diplomats said. Algeria, Japan and Russia also raised questions about the U.S. plan, they said.
Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov, the council president for November, said Moscow acknowledged "difficulties" in Myanmar, "but we don't see any threat to international peace and security ... due to the developments in Myanmar."
An earlier U.S. attempt to raise the focus on political repression in Myanmar was rebuffed in June when Russia, backed by China and Algeria, argued that the issue was outside the council's mandate to ensure international peace and security.
Bolton plans to try again on Friday to get the council to agree to put Myanmar on its formal agenda. He had predicted before Wednesday's meeting that the matter would sail through.
British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, who backs the U.S. request, assumes the rotating council presidency on Thursday.
Denisov said the council had two options.
It could choose to raise the issue informally, a move that would require no council vote. Or it could agree to formally add Myanmar to its agenda, clearing the way for a briefing by Annan. The second option would require a procedural vote and would need the support of nine members to prevail.

DoublePlusUnGood

"We were not strong enough to drive out a half-million American troops, but that wasn't our aim. Our intention was to break the will of the American government to continue the war."
--North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, in a 1990 interview with historian Stanley Karnow

Although that quote is 15 years old, change the tense from past to present and it could have been said by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , the man claiming responsibility for the majority of bloodshed in Iraq today. As happend following the Tet Offensive in 1968, our nation's Senators seem to be losing their stomach for the task at hand in Iraq. It is one thing to have not supported the war from the onset--everybody is entitled to their opinion. It is quite another thing to change your story at this point in the game as many formerly pro-war Senators from both sides of the asile are doing; even if it is the politically expedient thing to do. It is quite another thing altogether to do as former President Clinton did when he told a group of students recently at the American University in Dubai that the Bush Administration had committed a "big mistake" by liberating Iraq. "Saddam is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done," said the former President.

This is the same man who in 1998 made regime change in Iraq official U.S. policy when he signed the Iraq Liberation Act.

Why would so many politicians go to such lengths to change their story? Victor Davis Hanson thinks he knows why:

...what then is really at the heart of the current strange congressional hysteria?
Simple — the tragic loss of nearly 2,100 Americans in Iraq.
The "my perfect war, your messy postbellum reconstruction" crowd is now huge and unapologetic. It encompasses not just leftists who once jumped on the war bandwagon in fears that Democrats would be tarred as weak on national security (a legitimate worry), but also many saber-rattling conservatives and Republicans — including those (the most shameful of all) who had in earlier times both sent letters to President Clinton and Bush demanding the removal of Saddam and now damn their commander-in-chief for taking them at their own word.
In the triumphalism after seeing Milosevic go down without a single American death, the Taliban implode at very little cost, and Saddam removed from power with little more than 100 fatalities, there was the assumption that the United States could simply nod and dictators would quail and democracy would follow. Had we lost 100 in birthing democracy and not 2,000, or seen purple fingers only and not IEDs on Dan Rather's nightly broadcasts, today's critics would be arguing over who first thought up the idea of removing Saddam and implementing democratic changes.
So without our 2,100 losses, nearly all the present critics would be either silent or grandstanding their support — in the manner that three quarters of the American population who polled that they were in favor of the war once they saw the statue of Saddam fall.
In short, there is no issue of WMD other than finding out why our intelligence people who had once missed it in the First Gulf War, then hyped it in the next — or what actually happened to all the unaccounted for vials and stockpiles that the U.N. inspectors swore were once inside Iraq.
So the real crux is a real legitimate debate over whether our ongoing costs-billions spent, thousands wounded, nearly 2,100 American soldiers lost-will be worth the results achieved. Post facto, no death seems "worth it". The premature end of life is tangible and horrendous in a way that the object of such soldiers' sacrifices — a reformed Middle East, a safer world, enhanced American safety, and freedom for 26 million — seems remote and abstract.

The reason of this post is to point out the revision of history that is taking place before our eyes in the Senate. You, the reader, would do well to recall or read George Orwell's 1984. In it he describes the Records Department where the protagonist Winston works revising old news stories to reinforce Big Brother's version of history. Inconvenient facts as well as any stray piece of anything were tossed into the Memory Hole, never to be referenced again. Judging from the Senate's behavior of late, I'd say it must have been on their Summer reading list.

Side Note: Military deaths are as tragic at the individual level as any death. In an attempt to keep perspective on things I came up with what I think is a good demographic comparison to our Armed Forces: motorcycle riders. They're mostly young and mostly male just like a soldier afterall.
Single vehicle motorcycle crashes account for about 45 percent of all motorcyclist fatalities. More than 38,000 motorcyclists have died in single vehicle motorcycle crashes between 1975 and 1999. (Source)
If you do the math that works out to a little over 2,000 deaths per year. I realize this is not an exact comparison as the number of U.S. soldiers that have been killed in Iraq spans almost three years, and surely there's more motorcycle riders than soldiers in Iraq so the sample size is different. However, if you look at it strictly in deaths per year, riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than soldiering in Iraq.

XINGOLATI

As defined on their website: Xingolati embodies a creative and bold spirit and is all about the blending of worlds. The event blends the live music community together with performance artists and the beautiful creatures of the underground art scene.
Last May upon returning from Jazzfest in New Orleans, I received an email from the promoters at Jam Base. My head was still foggy as I read it, but something in my reptilian brain registered "very cool" as I quickly scanned the description of the maiden voyage of “Xingolati: the Groove Cruise of the Pacific.” Later that day one of my friends from New York who was at Jazzfest with us emailed me to ask if I had read the description of Xingolati. Mind you, this is the kind of guy that can tell you who is playing from 2a to 6a at some still-to-be-built wherehouse in Atlanta 6 months from now--if you’d only ask.
“Looks REALLY good,” he declared.
“Yes it does, now let me shake off Jazzfest and I’ll revisit later,” I said.
Revisit it I did. The next day I started reading the details. A three night October cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada featuring such acts as the Flaming Lips, G.Love and Special Sauce, Particle, BassNectar, Mutaytor, Slightly Stupid, DJ Motion Potion etc… I thought that sounded like a pretty solid line up, especially for a cruise ship. I figured it would sell out in no time, so I booked passage for my wife and I without giving it a second thought. I then hastily dashed out an email to The Posse—most of whom were still recovering from Jazzfest – and said something to the effect of, “look what I just booked, get on it dogonne it!”
I expected a lot of “hummms” and “haaaaws” from the gang, so I was truly shocked when I received 8 “I just booked it too” ’s back in the space of about one hour. When I got home and told my wife that we were going on a cruise in October, her immediate response was to look at me quizzically and ask if I was feeling ill. Everybody knows cruises are for bluehairs after all. After reading the details it didn’t take her long to warm to the idea of 24 hour room service, spa treatments, gambling, sun bathing, great music and umbrella drinks—if nothing else.
The summer months ticked away punctuated by the High Sierra Musicfest, Lollapalooza, Reggae on the River, Burning Man and many other activities that make summer great! Now and then we would discuss how we were going to dress each night on board. We debated a few themes and one that stuck was superheroes. The promoters helped us out by saying the first night on a cruise was traditionally “formal” so everyone be sure to dress their freaky-formal best, which we all did. Everybody knows that you have to dress like a furry animal to see the Flaming Lips, so just like that we had our costume scheme down—Friday night 70’s cheese-prom formal, furry animals (primate) Saturday night, and superhero SundayFunday. The many costumes we had made for Burning Man came in handy too, as everybody was essentially in some sort of costume the whole time.
As October neared we began to see that several cabins were still unfilled for this cruise. The cost is a big nut to swallow if you don’t consider what you are getting for your money. In any case they began to drastically cut the price of the remaining cabins for which we had paid full price. One of my friends sent an email to the promoters of the event and explained nicely that we were a little put off for paying full price when they were now practically giving away rooms. The promoter’s answer to our concerns was to give us two cabins for free! Free is good, and it allowed us to invite four more people. After much jockeying and a few false starts, those four spots were secured by the right people. I say the right people because in retrospect they all greatly contributed to the overall experience.
The Coast Hotel where we all stayed hosted a pre-Xingolati party the night before we were to set sail. Most of our group arrived that evening and we enjoyed good music and fire-twirling as a taste of things to come. We even picked up a couple of strays that night. One gal from Denver had decided to come on the trip despite her friend bailing last minute. It didn’t take long for one of the single guys in our clan to swoop in on her. She became a permanent fixture for the rest of the trip. A good girlfriend of another in our group lived close by, so she joined us for Thursday’s festivities. She had known another one of our friends on the trip from a wedding the prior summer, so they “re-kindled” things that evening. The next morning she was on her way home to pack for the cruise since “Denver” now had an extra spot.
It was that kind of trip.
Friday morning we had breakfast and lounged around the pool. About half the crew was eager to get on board so they headed over to the ship.
The rest of us took our time and paid for it. It took us about 90 minutes to get on; evidently this is common when boarding a cruise ship. The process is like getting on an airplane except there’s 2,000 rather than 200 people trying to board. Fortunately the weather was nice and they were selling beer outside.
Once on board we made our way to our cabins to drop off our carry on bags. When we booked our rooms months prior we took care to all book on the same deck. This turned out to be a GREAT call as we were on the Verandah deck very close to most of the action. I was a bit worried about our rooms being on the interior (no windows) but this was not a problem at all. The bed was very comfortable and the blackness was welcomed on the rare occasions that sleep was absolutely required.
We went out and joined the rest of the posse for welcome cocktails and rooted for one of our gals who was frantically trying to make her way across Friday afternoon LA rush hour traffic to get on board. I believe she was third-to-last to make it on the ship.
We shoved off about 5pm, witnessed a beautiful sunset and headed down to dinner in one of the “formal” dining rooms. This was actually quite fun as everybody was dressed up and the food was great! My wife decided she was going to let me speak on her behalf during dinner so she could witness the group dynamic without her usual conversational input. That was entertaining—for me at least—and it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would!
After dinner the line up I wanted to see was Medesky, Martin and Wood then Particle late night, but the great thing about having a music festival on a ship is that nothing is ever that far away, so it was easy to bounce around from venue to venue. The ship, by the way, had a total of 5 music venues. There were 3 stages: 2 were comedy club type set-ups, and one was outside on the top (lido) deck. Then there were two lounges for late night dj action. One thing all had in common was intimacy. One could literally reach out and touch whoever was on stage. Bassnectar (Lorin) was the best act Friday night as far as I’m concerned. The lido deck was goin’ off while he spun, and The Mutaytor kept the Burning Man vibe flowin’ when he was done. I went down to see Particle after that—not one of their best shows, but good nonetheless. It was about 4 am by then and I was pretty hungry, so I headed over to the 24 hour buffet and made myself a chili dog topped with scrambled eggs and sausage. Yeah, that’s right—you should try it sometime, it satisfies.
Saturday morning early my wife and I decided to go have a Jacuzzi at the stern of the ship. We were bubblin’ away with some other characters when Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips strolled by with a beautiful woman by his side. We called him over to see wazzup and find out who the hottie was. He said she’s his girlfriend and photographer, to which I commented, “it’s good to be a rockstar, huh?” He replied, “why yes, it is.” He took a few minutes and posed on the edge of the Jacuzzi with us whilst she clicked away. One of the guys in the tub was wearing a lion’s head costume—no doubt it was that furry animal that caught his eye.
We docked in Ensenada around noon Saturday and debarked by 2p. We pretty much made a beeline for Papa’s and Beer to celebrate one of our friend’s birthday. Our waiter put a Papa’s and Beer sticker over his eyes and did everything in his power to humiliate him. This was mostly offset by the gal we recruited to lick salt and lime off his nipples and from his bellybutton. Mostly. Everybody made their way back to the ship in their own way. My wife and I did a little shopping. A portion of the gang opted to go to a strip club where they got whipped by a stripper and turned one of our gals onto the joys of a lap dance! Who knew Ensenada could be so educational?
We got back to the ship and got into furry animal costumes then had a birthday piñata smashing. After scattering candy all around somebody’s else’s cabin we headed out to see G.Love’s first performance. All of the performers did multiple shows (sans The Flaming Lips) which resolved any potential schedule conflicts one may have had trying to see everybody. The G. Love show was not his best, but that was more than made up for the next day during his happy hour show.
After G.Love it was time for the main event—the Flaming Lips show. I’ve seen the Flaming Lips about 5 times now. I’m pretty sure they’re the only band I like that I’ve only seen live which means I don’t have any of their cd’s and they’re not on any of my mixes—it’s a peculiar situation. Subconsciously what I think it means is that they’re SO good live that I do not want to sully my mind’s image of them by listening to a recording. This show did not disappoint. It was pure energy through and through. True to form was the stage full of furry animals shining their spotlights all around and giant balloons bouncing off of a room full of uplifted arms. There were 3 marriage proposals on stage (two hetero, one lesbian) and Wayne personally sang happy birthday to our pal. It’s one of those shows that you just had to experience. I will put it in my top 2 best shows I’ve ever seen (I think the Porno for Pyros show I saw at Fitchburg St. U in Massachusetts back in 1992 topped it, but that was my first experience seeing a performance art skit custom choreographed for every song of an entire show). I looked around and realized I was standing in the front row in the center of the stage in what had to be one of the more intimate places they’ve ever played. I looked up and there was one of our boys onstage with the rest of the furry animals. He had hollowed out a teddy bear and was wearing it on his head—he fit right in.
I cannot be sure what happened after that show, I think we hit Perpetual Groove and DJ Motion Potion. I was pretty cooked after the Flaming Lips.
The next day was SundayFunday. My wife and I started out the morning in the hot tub again with a whole different cast of characters. I think it must have been Birthday Suit Sunday because there was no shortage of nudity at that early hour. As it turned out it was the harbinger of things to come. The security guards on board must have gotten very tired of telling people to put their clothes back on in the hot tub. Of course they’d observe a while before issuing their orders—they’re human after all. As morning gave way to noon, our troops mustered on the Verandah deck above the pool and the lido deck stage. We had a box full of Hawaiian leis that were quickly distributed to everybody in our vicinity. Nothing screams “PARRRTY” like a lei! Somebody ordered a double citron and lemonade and it became the Drink of the Day. Once it touched your lips it just tasted sooo good…! A completely empty hot tub right behind the lido stage splashed water up at us and beckoned us to “come hither.” One does not ignore the siren song of the hot tub, so we moved our party down a level and into its warm, bubbly embrace.
Slightly Stoopid kicked off the music on the lido deck stage. Basically we were in a backstage hot tub. Anybody coming to the stage had to pass us first, and things got pretty kooky after a while. There was a time when the Jacuzzi shenanigans were the main event. The waiters kept the double citron and lemonades coming, and a steady stream of tattooed circus freaks and not-quite-porn stars kept the Jacuzzi Soup plenty spicy. When G. Love was getting ready to go on we got him to come over and chat us up. I can’t blame him for keeping on his toes because I can assure you he would have ended up in the water with us had he given us the opportunity. We did get a round of hi-fives and plenty of smiles from him though. It was Happy Hour from 5-7p during the G.Love show, so the waiters kept the free beers and cocktails coming. There’s not much more that needs to be said concerning the Jacuzzi on that SundayFunday afternoon that hasn’t already been said. Again, it was just one of those things you had to be there to see. It was a vortex of positive energy, and many people jumped in with eyes wide open and both feet flappin’.
After 8 hours in the Jacuzzi it was time to shower up and get into superhero garb. The group was pretty fragmented at this point. My wife and I went to the formal dining room for dinner then met up with the rest of the marinated superheroes afterwards for the Particle show. This show was much better than the first one I thought. Things were blurry after that—I remember going in to one of the lounges for some dj action, but I couldn’t tell you who it was. It didn’t really matter anyhow. It was ALL good as they say!
The next morning we got up entirely too early. We were supposed to debark around 8a, but they did not start letting people off the boat until about 11a. The details are sketchy but one young lady died of a drug overdose onboard. Not sure if it was a suicide or what, but they had to complete the investigation before anybody could get off the ship. Truthfully, I was surprised more people didn’t die. I figured maybe a couple of people would fall overboard in a drug induced zombie trance. I’m glad I was wrong about that at least.
I try not to have expectations going into a new experience, but I have to admit I did have a few regarding this trip. In retrospect this trip exceeded all expectations. The vibe on board was really positive and I guarantee the crew never experienced a freakshow anything like that before. We were surrounded by a multitude of creative, beautiful people, which is easy to take for granted until you walked off the ship and saw the next crop of humanity waiting to get on board. My fellow travelers really made it complete. I am blessed to have such a good group of friends.

10-OCT-2006 UPDATE: Here's a link to the story about the young lady, Ashley Barnett, that died on the cruise. Sad story. My opinion of what happened: she had a dramatic flair, so she took some methadone to get her boyfriend's attention. Not having ever used drugs in her life, she was not familiar with what a proper dosage should be, so she overdosed and died. Methadone is particularly dangerous if it's abused.

18-MAR-09 UPDATE: My bouyiee Tim who met his wife on this trip sent me this link from another happy Xingolati veteran. Sounds like another happy customer...!

Worker's Paradise

The next time you see somebody wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt or you walk past an A.N.S.W.E.R booth at the latest Anti-Everything rally, it's worth remembering what they're advocating.

Deserter: 'Worst Mistake Anyone Ever Made'
Friday, October 21, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A U.S. Army deserter who spent decades in North Korea says his communist keepers abused him and controlled every aspect of his life, down to telling him how often to have sex.
"It was the worst mistake anyone ever made," Charles Jenkins said. "In words, I cannot express the feelings I have towards North Korea, the harassment I got, the hard life."
In an interview airing Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes, Jenkins said he was given no painkillers when a tattoo on his forearm that read "U.S. Army" was cut off with a scalpel and scissors.
"They told me the anesthetic was for the battlefield," said Jenkins, a North Carolina native. "It was hell."
Jenkins was a 24-year-old sergeant when he crossed the border into North Korea. He stayed for 39 years, appearing in propaganda films and teaching English.
In 1980, he married a Japanese woman who had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea to train spies in Japanese language and culture. She was released in 2002 and Jenkins followed two years later, surrendering to U.S. authorities and serving a month in jail for desertion.
The couple now live in Japan.
Jenkins told "60 Minutes" that his government handlers assigned him a Korean woman with whom he was supposed to have sex twice a month, and they beat him severely when he balked.

The Legacy of Robert Mugabe

Spin is an inherent part of storytelling. Everybody has a perspective, and the way they choose to spin a story reveals a lot about the storyteller.
Robert Mugabe has personally done more to destroy Zimbabwe than any of the numerous factors he blames for taking one of Africa's most productive exporting nations and placing it firmly on the road to just another hopeless African basket case in the space of approximately 5 years. At the heart of the problem lies his land redistribution program in which white owned farms were to be purchased at market prices and turned over to the black majority in a bid to equalize things following years of civil war and minority white rule. He went about this in a methodical way for a short time, but it didn't take long for him to resort to outright seizure of Zimbabwe's most fertile land in order to turn it over to political cronies with little interest in maintaining the productivity of the farms. This has led to widespread food shortages and much national chaos as the black farm workers suddenly found themselves unemployed. Those farm workers fortunate enough to have acquired a piece of property from this program found that although they had land, they lacked the proper equipment to farm the land as anything of value was either looted by political cronies or carried off by the former owners. This goes a long way towards explaining how Zimbabwe went from being a net agricultural exporter to a net importer so quickly. Of course, this is my spin on the subject, but one thing I have found is that financial markets are very efficient when it comes to cutting through spin and getting to the truth of the matter. I found the following story this morning:

Zimbabwe to Replace Dollar, World's Worst Performer Since 2000
2005-10-20 11:03 (New York)
By Lukanyo Mnyanda
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe plans to dump its dollar, the
world's worst performing currency over the last five years, from
next year, the central bank said.
The bank has been working on the introduction of a new
currency and is ``pleased to give notice that this will be done in
the new year'', central bank Governor Gideon Gono said in his
monetary policy statement today, without giving reasons.
To buy a U.S. dollar at the start of 2000, Zimbabweans had to
pay about 38 of their dollars. A U.S. dollar cost them 26,004.45
of their dollars at the rate set on Oct. 17, a 99 percent drop,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Zimbabwe dollar has fallen 78 percent this year so far,
the worst performance of currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
Export earnings have slumped since President Robert Mugabe's
government started seizing white-owned commercial farms in 2002.
The economy contracted by 40 percent between 1999 and 2003,
according to International Monetary Fund data, the most recent
available.
The central bank will introduce a "more flexible'' system of
managing the currency to ease shortages of foreign exchange, Gono
said in his statement. The bank currently manages it by selling
foreign currency at bi-weekly auctions.
Zimbabweans should ``hold cash sparingly'' to ensure a smooth
changeover, Gono said.

Spin away Mr. Mugabe, for the financial markets have reached a verdict: your country is in shambles.
The rich irony in this is that just this last weekend the U.N. invited Mr. Mugabe to speak at a hunger conference in Rome to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. I heard that he received a standing ovation led by none other than Hugo Chavez, the generalissimo of Venezuela.

You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep.

They're not all inside playing Xbox

Yesterday I went for an afternoon run after work. It was a gorgeous fall day--sunny, warm, very light breeze-- the kind that makes one breathe deep and feel glad to be alive. I was running down the sidewalk not too far from home when I saw three kids--one boy and two girls about 11 years old--playing on some sort of contraption. When I drew closer I saw that they had made a catamaran out of two of those razor kick scooters that are pretty popular these days. They had constructed a wooden platform that spanned the distance between the two scooters and they were having a ball bombing down the sidewalk trying not to crash. I ran along behind them for about 1/2 a block just listening to them laugh and chatter. It so reminded me of my childhood I could taste it. They abruptly swung the catamaran into a driveway where three other kids were hanging out waiting for them. I heard the laughing and tones of bravado fade into the cacophony of the city as I got further down the sidewalk. It was then that it occured to me that not all the kids were inside playing Xbox on a beautiful sunny afternoon...

Haitian Zombie Recipe

I just found the Haitian recipe for zombies (just in time for Halloween!) Actually it was passed along to me by a friend on a slow news day here at work.
"The recipe included puffer fish which has a poison called tetrodotoxin which is a potent ion channel blocker. Tetrodotoxin poisoning can kill but at other times it leads to a near death state with such a lowered metabolism that the poisoned person is thought to be dead. Somehow along the line Haitian's discovered this property and may at times have used it nefariously. Poisoning someone with the Zombie recipe caused their seeming death. After they were buried the poisoner would unearth the not quite dead victim. The next step was also one of the slick aspects of this scheme in that the unburied and now resuscitated poison victim would be fed a paste made from a plant that contained atropine and scopalomine. These toxins are potent dissociative hallucinogens. The victim was first "killed", buried, and brought back to life. Then given a heavy duty hallucinogenic drug. The dead had come back to life and was walking the earth. Just like in a movie. These guys were then sold to labor camps to work in the fields."
Enjoy!

Feelers vs. Thinkers

There's this economics professor named James Miller at Smith College that writes for Tech Central Station from time to time. His perspective is in the minority as he is a conservative professor at an extremely liberal all women's school. He wrote an article on Monday titled "Feelers v. Thinkers" in which he tried to connect thinkers with conservative thought and feelers with liberal thought. I agreed with much of what he had to say, however there was one paragraph that absolutely dumbfounded me:

Bill Maher, the former host of Politically Incorrect, got in trouble with feelers when he said that the 9/11 hijackers were not cowards. A thinker would have to concede that those who deliberately give their lives for a cause, regardless of how horrid the cause, don't fit the conventional definition of cowards. A feeler, however, would violently reject associating any positive qualities, including bravery, with the 9/11 hijackers. A feeler would believe that Maher would have done this only if he sympathized with the terrorists.

I finished the article and continued what I was doing, but that paragraph continued to grate on my nerves, so I decided I would write him a letter and explain to him why I thought he was wrong:

Prof. Miller
I enjoy reading and agree with much of what you write--especially your thoughts regarding lefty bias on campus. Your recent Feelers v. Thinkers is mostly spot on, but I would like to add something to your conclusion regarding Bill Maher's comments about the 9/11 hijackers. You say, "A thinker would have to concede that those who deliberately give their lives for a cause, regardless of how horrid the cause, don't fit the conventional definition of cowards." I believe that is a true statement, however it cannot be applied to the hijackers. Since they believed that their rich reward for their atrocious actions lay waiting for them in the after world, I believe what they did was the ultimate form of cowardice. There's nothing inherently brave about embracing that which has been guaranteed to be yours, no matter what you must do in order to realize it. I believe that point was lost on you, Mr. Maher and anybody else who would believe that the hijackers were anything but cowards.Al Qaeda must know this too, which I would speculate is one of the reasons why not all of the hijackers were aware they were about to become martyrs.
Signed,
J

I felt better after writing that and I did not expect to hear back from him. It's been my experience that people you disagree with seldom write back to defend their position. I was wrong this time. The next morning I had the following message in my in box; short and to the point:

Hi,
Good point, but many of the fire fighters who ran into the burning towers on9/11 believed they were going to heaven after they died. Surely these men and women should still be considered brave.
Jim

OK, now I was confused. Here was a self-described conservative professor sounding like any number of leftist apologists for terrorism. Here is my reply:

Jim,

Unless you can say with a straight face that the entire police and fire response team was made up of unambivalent Christian fanatics, you would have to concede that their motivation for rushing into the WTC was not because they wished to find a shortcut to heaven. Their reason for rushing into the WTC was because they were protecting the public they took an oath to serve. If you ask me that is among the bravest and most noble things one can do--putting strangers before oneself. I suppose you could counter that Mr. Atta and company's sole motivation for mass murder was not to gain early admission to the Land of Virgins and Wine--that they felt they were serving Allah to whom they took an oath to protect and serve, but if you made that argument I might have to conclude that you were trying to draw moral equivalency between the premeditated actions of mass murderers and civil servants doing their job.
I'll leave you with this by Leon Wieseltier writing for TNR. He puts it much more succinctly than I ever could: "A hero is somebody who risks everything for what he believes. A martyr is somebody who risks nothing for what he believes, because he believes that his reward is certain, and that his life really begins with his death. Martyrdom, unlike heroism, is an extreme and repugnantly rigid _expression of certainty. Martyrs make dogmas, heroes make wagers."

Martyr = Atta &.Co = Cowards
Hero = police & fire = Courageous

signed,
J

I have not heard back from him yet but I hope I do. I would love to hear him defend his position from a conservative, or any point of view for that matter. I don't think my thoughts on the matter are specifically conservative, but when contrasted with the crowd that thinks that Islamic terrorism is simply a symptom of the West's failure to understand their grievances, I can see how it could be labeled as such. Most people don't like to have their ideas and assumptions challenged; especially college professors.

Golden Gate Bridge Toll for Bikes

I love riding my bike. Actually, I love riding any one of the three bikes I currently own. I'm no bike snob though, like a lot of people. Mostly the bike snobs are guys who dress like Lance Armstrong and ride like the road is only for them. They'd rather run you off the road than yield an inch--then cuss you out cause they had to break their rythm. The other group that's snobby is the Puck the Bike Messenger crowd on their fixed gear single speeds with no brakes. They figure they're holier-than-thou because they have a minimalist bike. I say big deal, it's only a bike for crissakes. If you're on a bike you're alright by me--it doesn't matter what kind it is. Everybody unites under common cause when Critical Mass rolls around at 6pm the last Friday of every month. Eventhough some of those guys can be pretty militant I think Critical Mass is a positive event that adds to the flavor of San Francisco.
For whatever reason the GG Bridge District has been claiming poor for as long as I can remember. The current vehicle toll is $5. In addition to funding bridge maintenance this toll also subsidizes ferry and bus service from Marin County into the city for commuters. The GGBD's most recent scheme for generating more cash flow is to start charging pedesterians and bicycle riders a toll as well. Most of the pedesterians are tourists so they don't really have a say in the matter, but the bicycle crowd is less than enthusiastic about this as one can imagine. The SF Bike Coalition has organized numerous letter writing campaigns and petitions with the hopes of convincing Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB 748 which would prohibit tolls for bikes and pedesterians on all bridges in California. He vetoed the bill. Here's what the latest SFBC email has to say about the matter:

Governor Vetoes Ban on Bike/Pedestrian TollsWe have learned that the
Governor has vetoed Assembly Bill (AB) 748, legislation that would have
prohibited tolls on cyclists & pedestrians on bridges and highways around
the state, including on the Golden Gate Bridge. Despite rising gas prices,
increasing obesity trends, and more environmental concerns related to motor
vehicles, the Governor unfortunately still chose to send a message that the
state discourages - rather than encourages - healthy, sustainable transportation
such as bicycling and walking. Bay Area bicyclists have worked hard in support
of this bill in the past few months, including sen! ding more than 1,000 letters
to the Governor & gathering thousands of petition signatures. (Thank you to
all of you who support these efforts by signing our petitions!)---> To see
the Governor's veto message, see http://www.sfbike.org/ggb

That sounded like an uncharacteristic thing for a man who has spent his life body building to do, so I went to the website to see what his reasoning was:

To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly
Bill 748 without my signature. I strongly encourage Californians to use
bicycling and walking as modes of transportation when possible because of the
physical fitness benefit, as well as the congestion mitigation and air quality
benefits. However, this bill would inappropriately usurp control from the local
governing body, the Golden Gate Highway and Transportation District. Since the
District has been authorized to operate and maintain the bridge, the state
should not tie its hands by foreclosing certain funding options.
Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger

If one only reads the opinion of the SFBC, one would think the governor is against bicycles and alternative transportation. But if you read WHY he vetoed the bill, it makes sense. It's about not exercising power outside of his jurisdiction. Now that I think about it, I don't think I'd mind paying a dollar to access the Marin Headlands and beyond. Riding across the bridge sure as heck beats putting my bike on my back and swimming. That's worth at least one dollar.

Karina Sensationalism

It doesn't take superior intellect to realize that when Mother Nature comes calling, fortune favors those who are prepared. What happened in New Orleans was a terrible tragedy and it resonates with me somewhat personally due to the fact that we visit the city every year during Jazzfest. The way it has been politicized is nothing short of disgusting. Local government blamed the state government blamed the Federal government blamed the local government and so on. Scoring cheap political points trumped tangible aid on the ground. Global warming experts such as Barbra Streisand placed the blame on our failure to sign the well intentioned yet ultimately ineffectual Kyoto Protocol for the intense hurricane activity without noting that destructive hurricanes have been devastating the Gulf Coast for as long as we've cared to keep record of them. Then you have rapper/cultural anthropology expert Kayne West explaining to the world that George Bush doesn't care about blacks and has given the National Guard permission to "go down there and shoot us!" Historian Jesse Jackson compared the scene outside the Superdome to the "hull of a slave ship." And what did the good Reverend Al Sharpton have to say? I'll let you look it up yourself. One has come to expect these limelight worshipers and their ilk to say whatever they think will retain the most shock value. Obviously the truth is secondary if it's considered at all, and statements such as the ones noted above are utterly devoid of perspective. To nobody's surprise the main stream media was breathlessly chasing every unsubstantiated rumor, running it through the mill and churning out "credible" reports. What was reportedly going on at the Superdome almost defies belief, as rumors took on a hyperbolic life of their own.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated body counts,
unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among examples of "scores
of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the
media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."

Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on "Oprah" three
weeks ago of people "in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead
bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

The wild rumors filled the vacuum and seemed to gain credence with each
retelling — that an infant's body had been found in a trash can, that sharks
from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through the business district, that
hundreds of bodies had been stacked in the Superdome basement.

Follow-up reporting has discredited reports of a 7-year-old being raped and
murdered at the Superdome, roving bands of armed gang members attacking the
helpless, and dozens of bodies being shoved into a freezer at the Convention
Center.

Fox News, a day before the major evacuation of the Superdome began, issued
an "alert" as talk show host Alan Colmes reiterated reports of "robberies,
rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Violent gangs are roaming the streets at
night, hidden by the cover of darkness."

The Los Angeles Times adopted a breathless tone the next day in its
lead news story, reporting that National Guard troops "took positions on
rooftops, scanning for snipers and armed mobs as seething crowds of refugees
milled below, desperate to flee. Gunfire crackled in the distance."

The tabloid Ottawa Sun reported unverified accounts of "a man seeking help
gunned down by a National Guard soldier" and "a young man run down and then shot
by a New Orleans police officer."

London's Evening Standard invoked the future-world fantasy film "Mad Max"
to describe the scene and threw in a "Lord of the Flies" allusion for good
measure.

Nagin and Police Chief Eddie Compass appeared on "Oprah" a
few days after trouble at the Superdome had peaked.Compass told of "the little
babies getting raped" at the Superdome. And Nagin made his claim about hooligans
raping and killing.


Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron, who headed security at the
Superdome, said that for every complaint, "49 other people said, 'Thank you, God
bless you.' "The media inaccuracies had consequences in the disaster zone.

What happened to simple fact checking? What happened to asking Who, What, Where, When and Why and proceeding to write a story based on verifiable facts? Stay tuned for the forthcoming apology from the media--surely they'll want to clear a few things up to save their tarnished image.

Burning Man 2005

I believe people try hard to label experiences so that they may be filed away in a little mental box alongside all similar experiences; it helps to keep the mind in order. Sometimes though, a particular experience is simply too unusual for any conventional label to stick. Burning Man is just such an experience. It has been called a lot of things over the years. Among the things I've heard it compared to include a giant rave, an outdoor art exhibit, an orgy, a nudist colony, a drug fest, a spiritual journey, an interactive performance art camp, and a pyro party. Now that I have attended, I must say that it is none of these things, yet it is all of these things; and best way to sum it up is to simply say it's the best party in the world. period.
I first was interested in attending about 5 years ago. I began to hear stories about some big party in the middle of the Nevada desert where anything goes. This of course piqued my curiosity. I began to ask questions from people that had gone (Burners as they are known) and I quickly realized that I had to attend at some point in my life. But like anything, excuses for not going were plentiful--a wedding this year, trip to somewhere next year--it always seemed like something was already planned, and I began to think that I had already "missed out" on the experience because it had gotten so much bigger than it had been in years past.
Last year when my wife and I were on our honeymoon I noticed the Burning Man effigy painted on the camera case of one of our guides. "Ah, a burner!" I thought, and began to ask him questions. He convinced me that it most certainly was not too late to attend and that I had not missed out on anything, so when January rolled around I bought two tickets. I figured at least I could sell them when something came up as had always happened in the past. Three of the people in my skihaus are veteran Burners as well, so as the winter progressed I'd toss out Burning Man every now and then to try to gauge the interest level. The one thing I knew I did not want to do was go with a bunch of Playa Virgins (first timers) because if you are not prepared for extreme desert camping it can be a very harsh experience. I thought I might like to join up with an existing theme camp if I couldn't generate interest among the skihaus people. Fortunately it worked out that my skihaus friends were up for it. We talked about it at the High Sierra Music fest over the 4th of July and decided we'd give it a go.
Planning for Burning Man takes up the entire year for many camps, but we only had 2 months and not nearly that amount of motivation. We decided on a theme loosely associated with Ali Baba. One of the guys bought an old golf cart we planned on turning into a flying carpet for jetting around the playa. When it came time to actually decorate it at one of our planning parties, we decided it was going to be too much work, but we brought it anyway. Two of the members of our camp were flying their Cessna up and we told the aviation department that they could use it as a shuttle between camp and the airport if they let us bring it in. Not only did it get in, but it got a "staff" sticker on it to boot—that’s like being deputized by the sheriff. We ended up decorating it like a big harem bed--nothing fancy but it looked pretty cool. Unfortunately it did not run too well at 4,000 ft, but we got some usage out of it. Some of us got a Cessna tour of Black Rock City too--it was a neat way to gain another perspective of the mayhem below. On a side note our friends with the Cessna became engaged on their flight up! They had known each other for a number of years but really solidified their relationship at Burning Man a few years back. We talked about having a wedding ceremony for them at Black Rock City, but we were lacking in the motivation department. Besides, the playa was calling!
Black Rock City is not immune to some of the growing pains common in many cities. It does have an infrastructure of sorts: rangers who patrol but are mostly mediators, although I am sure they have a gun locker somewhere not too far away. Afterall, with 35,000 freaks in the desert the possibilities for mayhem are endless. There’s even a bit of social stratification between the vetran burners and the newer denizens of BRC. Some of the bigger camps can be cult-like, but I mean that in a good sense.
A bicycle is by far the best way to get around the playa, and there is every mutation of pedal power represented at Black Rock City. The first night I was there I was "dream weaving" on my beach cruiser way off in the distance and I almost crashed into the trash barrier fence. I saw it at the last minute in the early dawn glow. The night of the burn I fell asleep--OK-- passed out while I was pedaling along. I was in the grooove, it was late, then BLAM! The next thing I knew I was staring at the stars. My wife got a good laugh out of that as she was right behind me.
Barter is the currency. We had over 100 lighters we painted the Burning Man effigy onto as well as other assorted goodies for trading. Those lighters came in handy when I found myself in the middle of the playa on a hot day and somebody happened by with a cooler full of cold beer; and at the end of the week it was interesting when I emptied out my pockets and compared all the different mementos I had accumulated along the way. Each told a story.
Our camp turned out pretty good. We had a 24ft parachute shade structure at the center, surrounded by our tents and other smaller shade structures. Under the parachute were a couple of tables we built on site and rugs and of course the disco ball and assorted other funky lighting. I rented an RV in case the wind, dust or heat became unbearable. Lucky for us the weather was as close to perfect as it gets up there, and the integrity of our shade structure was never put to the big 90 mph gust test fortunately. Everybody was commenting on how nice it was compared to years past.
The whole week seems almost surreal at this point. I'm not so sure I was even there! I'd be riding along and pass some place where I was the night before and all the memories would come back. That happened all the time, like I was a victim of some bizarre happy trauma.
There really is no way to describe the whole experience without seeing it for yourself. Pictures do not do the event justice, you need to be there to feel the pulse of the city. Forming a good group and planning meticulously are imperative to having a good time. After having been it’s evident that Burning Man is one of those events that will never become stagnant. It will continue to morph into something new but familiar each year, therefore I do not think it is ever too late to participate. I'll be back for sure, but maybe not for 4 years--like the Olympic Games. That said, I’m sure we’ll start planning for next year just as soon as this decompression is over.
It's odd, I just realized I don't have a lot of stories, just a lot of memories--real good memories. And really, when we're old and grey, sitting on the front porch rocking away the twilight years--what else is there?

Whooah, MEXICO!

I just returned from a trip to Acapulco with my wife. It was a family affair really--7 of us all in our 30's--3 of which were her cousins and the rest of us spouses. We stayed at her cousin Miguel Angel's shiny new abode on a jungle hill overlooking the Pacific. It was a full on 3 day lock down party. I left the house once and that was to get more booze. There really was no reason to leave. We had a maid, a cook and a pool boy who took care of our every need. I was reprimanded for trying to get a beer by myself. Basically it was a 5 star vacation without the bill. It was a priveledged Mexican experience to which I have had little prior exposure.
I learned a thing or two as well. The first thing I learned was that if you have money and you drive around Mexico City, you want to drive a car that does not betray your social status and make you a target for thieves. Miguel Angel's driver picked us up in a non-descript Dodge sedan at the airport. I have to say I was expecting something a little more opulent when I learned we were to have a chauffeur. However, when we arrived in Cuernevaca (just outside Mexico City) at MA's house things started to make sense. In the garage were the requisite high end German autos you'd expect to see in such a setting which leads to the second thing I learned: if you live in Cuernevaca and you happen to be wealthy, you register your automobiles in Mexico City. That way the bandits will not bother to follow you home and rob you because they figure you are not a local.
We settled on the Porsche Cayenne for our ~3 hour drive to Acapulco. My wife and I both maintain that the Cayenne looks extremely similiar to the much cheaper Hyundai Santa Fe not that you'd ever get a Cayenne owner to agree. I can, however, vouch for the performance of the Cayenne as we hit a top speed of 120 mph and probably averaged no less than 100mph the whole way. We were able to drive in this manner due to the fact that the toll road to Acapulco is pretty deserted (and very beautiful by the way) as most people take the free road which is much longer, and we had a radar detector to alert us of any imminent Federale ambushes. The most unnerving thing about the whole trip was coming upon the numerous road crews with little to no warning. All of the sudden we would round the bend and there'd be a man in the middle of the road frantically waving his flag. The Cayenne slows down almost as fast as it accelerates. I wonder how many Mexican road workers die each year?
The third thing I learned is that I do not know as much Spanish as I think I do. I relearn this lesson every time I travel to a Spanish speaking country. Sure, I can order from a menu, ask where the nearest cantina is and string together a handful of random verbs, nouns and phrases I've learned over the years; but I am nowhere near fluent.
Having a bilingual wife has its benefits and drawbacks. The major benefit is I am able to listen to her speak for hours on end and attune my ear to Spanish and ask her any question pertaining to the numerous idioms that make the language unique. For example, I wanted to ask her cousin who was older--her or her sister? So I asked, "quien es mas vieja?" which directly translates as "who is more old?" This implies that the subject is old in the grandmother sense which I learned when my question was met with a small look of shock then laughter. Evidently the correct way to ask this question is "quien es mayor" who is major? Go figure. Well now I know, and I won't forget that lesson. The only drawback to having a bilingual wife is that I tend to rely on her to speak for me and translate instead of trying to figure it out for myself which makes me lazy, but I think in the end the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Give me 3 to 6 months immersed in Mexico and I will come out of it fluent. Now please, somebody, hand over the time.
So the days were spent lounging by the pool only to be interrupted by the occasional meal. The evenings were spent lounging by the pool only to be interrupted by the occasional meal. One of the guys with us has a profound appreciation for rock anthems of the 70's and early 80's. He had with him numerous CD's he had burned that had just about every song you thought you'd forgotten and would never hear again. Songs from bands and artists such as Styx, Steely Dan, Asia, Kansas, Peter Cetera, REO Speedwagon, Meat Loaf, Genesis and on and on. One night we listened to these CD's well into the morning hours. It's amazing how many lyrics to songs I had not heard in about 20 years I remembered. It was a tribute to the power the mind to be able to dust off long forgotten lyrics and recite them in real time.
The last evening was spent drinking tequila, howling at the moon and bustin' out traditional Mexican jams on the classical guitar, bongos, tambourines, clanking sticks and maracas of every shape and size. We proceeded to sing just about every folk tune in the land of Mexico. Two of my wife's cousins are quite talented, the rest of us just tried not to ruin their groove. I guess MA was impressed with my bongo skills because he gave them to me along with a bagful of other noisemakers. They won't go to waste!
Since I had the airline tickets I was charged with getting us out the door on time. 3:45p flight, 15 min to airport, leave the house around 2:40 no problem. We were about 1/3 of the the way there when I decided to look at the tickets again. Much to my horror our departure time was actually 3:25p. A quick look at the watch told me it was 3p--10 min to the airport still--oh man it's gonna be close! We literally slid into the plane like a base runner sliding into home on a squeeze play with 3 minutes to spare--much to the chagrin of the standby passengers just about to board ahead of us. Mexicans are notorious for being fashionably late, but even this was a little too close for the comfort of my wife and her cousin and husband who were on the same flight with us.
It was great getting to know some of my wife's cousins that I had never met. It was also great to reacquaint with the ones I had met in the past. Listening to them speak and relive tales of their youth eventhough I was only able to interpret the gist of the conversation was nice. I was able to weave together a mosaic in my mind's eye that painted a telling picture. One thing that I suspected but was proven on this trip: good music and food sprinkled with plenty of drink is an excellent way to combat a language barrier.

Update: Prop 77

GOOD NEWS! Let's put it to a vote!

From the WSJ editorial section today:
Lockyer OverruledAugust 17, 2005; Page A10
California's Supreme Court decision Friday to restore a redistricting measure to the November special election ballot is bad news for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who was trying to have it removed on a technicality. But the ruling is very good news for anyone fed up with the state's rigged system for electing lawmakers.
In California, incumbents draw their own district lines, which has made elections as suspenseful as professional wrestling. Of 153 state and Congressional races last November, not one seat changed party hands. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made redistricting reform a centerpiece of his agenda, and nearly one million Californians signed a ballot initiative, known as Proposition 77, to turn redistricting over to an independent panel of retired judges.
Mr. Lockyer, a Democrat in cahoots with legislators who oppose the reform, sued to remove the initiative from the ballot, citing minor wording discrepancies between the version submitted to his office and the one shown to voters to collect signatures. He claimed such sins as substituting the word "appoint" for "select" constituted fatal flaws that would endanger "public confidence in the initiative process" if left unchecked.
When these columns criticized his move, Mr. Lockyer sent us a letter suggesting he was merely trying to protect voters from devious populists. Well, not quite, said the state's high court. "We conclude that it would not be appropriate to deny the electorate the opportunity to vote on Proposition 77 on Nov. 8, 2005, on the basis of such discrepancies," said the court in a 4-2 decision. Mr. Lockyer's antics underscore the desperation of politicians out to prevent competitive elections. There will be more between now and November.

Iraq Unfiltered

Most people realize intuitively if not overtly that "if it bleeds it leads" is the mantra of the mainstream media (MSM). Being a reporter in a war zone is a hazardous affair, and I can understand one's desire to hole up in a hotel room in the Green Zone and pass off rumors and the like as bona fide news stories in order to meet deadlines; and I believe the majority of the population will swallow these stories without too much thought or question. If one listens to only the MSM day in and day out, one may be left with an impression that does not necessarily square with the reality of the situation on the ground. This may or may not be the intent of the reporter, but that's the subject of another blog entry. Fortunately there exists a cadre of independent journalists in Iraq that truly risk their lives each day in order to give the world an alternative and unedited version of what is really going on. Michael Yon is one if them. His blog is the best I've found yet on the subject. I strongly encourage you to check it out and support him if you are able.

Choosing your constituency

My grandfather accumulated a lot of wisdom in his 99 years on this earth. When he chose to share it--usually over a cocktail at happy hour--I would listen eagerly and try to retain as much as possible. Some of the more memorable things he said are the following: on finance-- "there's no friend like money in the bank." On health and ageing: "moderation is the key." On religion--"Religion is no damn good" On women--"if you stand women on their heads they all look the same." Much of what he said was tongue and cheek as he had a wonderful sense of wit and humor, but the one thing that he said that has resonated most with me over the years has to do with politics: "our government is not perfect, but it's the best damn government out there." That's worth remembering from time to time.
In my home state of California, Gov. Schwarzenegger is in the process of trying to break the gridlock that has maintained status quo for better or for worse (mostly worse) for at least the past decade. One of the measures he is in the process of getting on the ballot for the upcoming special election is Prop. 77, the redistricting-reform measure. This would take congressional redistricting out of the hands of lawmakers and put it in the hands of a panel of retired judges. As it exists now, basically congressmen can choose their constitituency through a process called gerrymandering. This all but assures perpetual re-election as evidenced by the fact that not one single seat changed hands in the last election among the CA congressional delegation.

The WSJ has more today in their editorial section:
A sharply split 2-1 decision by the California Court of Appeal regarding
the fate of Prop. 77, the redistricting-reform ballot measure, speaks to the
intense politicization of the state's initiative process. Prop. 77's proponents
have filed an emergency application to ask the California Supreme Court to
preserve the ballot measure.
In 2001, state Republicans and Democrats (aided by technology which allowed a whole new level of voter profiling) struck a brazen deal to draw districts: This resulted in an election where for the first time in modern California history not one seat changed party hands. Prop. 77 calls for immediate reform by mandating an independent panel to draw districts
impartially.
Democratic Attorney General Bill Lockyer and his confederates in
the legislative leadership have attempted to characterize what were essentially
clerical mistakes surrounding Prop. 77 as some kind of conspiracy between the
proponents, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a million Californians. Frankly, if the
legislative chairs want to investigate a conspiracy, they should start with the
AG's own bizarre legal renderings: For months, he used his authority to write
title and ballot summaries in a partisan fashion to discredit Gov.
Schwarzenegger's reform package. His characterization of a general budget
spending cap measure as "School Funding, School Spending" was such a blatant
attempt to stir up voter concern over education that he was forced to rewrite
summary and title. When questioned by the press about the redistricting
proposition, the AG offered that while he'd always been a proponent of removing
redistricting power from the hands of the legislature when he was a state senate
leader, he thought Prop. 77 was "kooky."
The AG's campaign against this measure smacks of Wonderland: "First the verdict then the trial." In the wake of the Court of Appeal decision, there is talk of copycat lawsuits challenging the plethora of initiatives which have become law. And flying through California's
buzz-circuit was a story -- which may be apocryphal -- that in D.C., on hearing
of the ruling favorable to the AG, the most right-wing GOP member of the
California delegation as well as its most liberal Democrat, both leading
opponents of fair redistricting, were seen embracing.
The special election this fall is more than a clash between Gov. Schwarzenegger and his Janissaries versus the Democratic legislature. It is potentially the Second Act of the
Recall -- the second stage of a revolution to reclaim sovereignty.
(Mr. Mundell is chairman of Californians for Fair Redistricting.)

Gerrymandering is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Governing should be about consensus, but with an incumbent solidly entrenched through gerrymandering it makes a candidate mount a more radical campaign than may be necessary. In their quest for votes it forces them to gravitate more to the fringes--be it the left or the right--rather than towards the middle where compromise and consensus rule the day.

If anybody wonders if AG Lockyer has ulterior motives in his blatant obstructionism, remember that he has his eye on the governorship. He's also the one who said the following after the collapse of Enron in June 2001: "I would love to personally escort (Kennneth) Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey.'".

There you have it. The California Attorney General officialy sanctions prison rape in the penal system.

This is when I remind myself, "it's not perfect, but it's the best damn government out there." Sometimes I'm not so sure.