Sunday, July 30, 2006

Foreign words

If you thought Freedom Fries was bad, how about elastic loaves? It seems like Iranian President Ahmadinejad has a bigger problem with words from a country he doesn't like than Bush does.

Big Problem

In order to better understand the enormity of what we are faced with in the Middle East and around the world, everyone should read this excellent article which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning.
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This morning's Chronicle Two Cents column asks the question: Who has the most to lose in the Mideast? All the answers are good but this is my favorite:

"Humanity. As a species, if we can't even learn to accept the existence of our neighbors, we will never be able to confront global challenges like environment issues or disease that can destroy us all. Tribalism has no place in the global community."

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Hollow and Empty

This is to be expected from that airhead Bush but nevertheless,we can wonder what other underhanded, under the table, dirty tricks this idiot has planned for what used to be a great country. This is certainly no longer the America I grew up with. He has sold the country down the tubes to the highest bidder. I wonder what company it is? Anyway, if you are not white and rich, you are going to have a devil of a time in the future with the way he has gutted everything of worth in U.S. Government.

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A quarter century of conservative rule has broken the US economy for working families. Beginning with Ronald Reagan, we were assured that government was the problem not the solution and that deregulation and massive tax cuts for the rich would unleash the market's productive forces and create prosperity for everyone. But real economic prosperity does not come from unbridled competition unchecked by fairness and a decent regard for the common good. It is not measured in return on investment or the number of new billionaires. Real economic prosperity comes from the full employment of the workforce and a fair sharing of the gains of productivity and economic growth. It requires new rules for a new economy and a new commitment to creating good jobs that can make America competitive again.
(straighttalk.ourfuture.org)

Medicare

As I look at the deductibles and co-pays on some recent medical and dental bills, I am reminded of what our government did to our healthcare system with Medicare Part D. I am wondering if we will ever get any honest politicians who will serve the people who elected them and not the corporations of the world whose CEOs have it all and don't care about anyone else.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Ban it and make it popular

Just as Rome has not learned about reverse psychology, the Ministry of Culture in Iran has not yet learned that banning a book will make it even more popular than had it not been banned. Now they are banning The DaVinci Code and it is selling like hot cakes.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

King's Health Improving

I see that the health of the King of Thailand is improving following spinal surgery. This is good new indeed as the stability of that beautiful country is dependent upon it at this time. Also I was happy to see a tribute to him on CNN news recently which I never expected to see in this country.

More information about His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) of Thailand can be found here at this Wikipedia page.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Brother, can you spare some air?

The controversy over the free public transit on spare the air days here in the Bay Area continues. This year the program of no fares on such days has been all day but it seems to me that when the program started it was for the morning rush hour only. And that makes more sense. With transit being free all days at such times we have hundreds, no thousands, sightseeing at great financial expense to the various transit agencies plus inconveniencing the regular commuters who are having great difficulty even getting on their train or their boat. Golden Gate Ferries to Sausalito saw a 512% increase in ridership on those days. I am sure that 500% of them were looky-loos, just out for a fun day in the sun at everyone elses expense. BART trains were crammed full also making it even more difficult for regular riders to get on. The only thing missing last week were the guards with white gloves pushing people into the cars as they do in Tokyo.

Now we have idiots like Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty who proposes free transit all year round. Well that is certainly one way to kill it entirely. There is no such thing as a free ride and if he thinks that the various govermental agencies can pick up the tab, a tab that BART already has trouble dealing with, then he is in need of some reality therapy. Another day dreamer is San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano who is calling for a study of that possibility. This is not done anywhere in the country nor the world for that matter. Some limited downtown shuttles are in place in various cities but those are paid for by the merchants along the routes in conjunction with the municipality that they operate in.

Oh, and then we have the other pie-in-the-sky day dreamers who want to tear down Hetch Hetchy and restore the valley to what it once was. I have yet to hear any solid plans as for where we would then obtain the water that most of us in the Bay Area drink. And who is to say that the valley could be restored to its natural state anyway? With it under water for so long that would be a monumental task in itself. That would cost millions in addition to the billions needed just for draining the reservoir and and then tearing down the dam. Such madness!

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Do not pass Go, do not Graduate

Whoever wrote this headline:

Gateses pledge $287 million for AIDS vaccine



needs to take English 101A all over again.

Gateses?? How about "Gates family" or just "Gates'". That writer obviously did not know how to handle possessive cases for nouns ending in 's'.

Christian Fascists

We really don't need groups like this trying to shove their religions down our throats and re-impose an unholy Roman Inquisition on us once again. They say there is a cultural war going on and in that they are correct but it is they who are creating that war. One member of the group says that they are trying to protect the things this country was founded upon. Ha! Do they really know what that is? Do they really think that things stay the same forever? Do they still drive Model T Fords? Oh, no, where do they put up their horses at night? Such pure unadulterated ignorance is difficult to imagine but then fundamentalists have never been noted for being at the top intellectually. They bury their collective heads in the sand and hide behind the word FAITH to justify what they do.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Outdoor dining in San Francisco?

Once again the issue of sidewalk tables for San Francisco restaurants has been raised by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. For years Herb Caen pontificated on the subject bemoaning the fact that San Francisco, as the Paris of the West, did not have outdoor cafes and restaurants as they do in Paris. He, the world traveler that he was, should have known better. This city has a totally different climate to begin with and I for one, don't want to sit outside, freeze my buns off, have my food get cold, and have a smelly vagrant panhandle me or some crazy screaming at me while I am trying to eat. There is also the problem of the gale force winds which would blow the menu and some food items from here to kingdom come. Then there is the larger problem of noise and dirt. Paris is a clean city and much quieter. In fact, the last time I was there I had occasion to sit at a table on the narrow end of a triangular shaped lot where passing city buses came within six feet of me. The buses there are quiet and the drivers do not act like they are at a race track so the situation was not marred by the traffic at this busy intersection. This is not possible in San Francisco where I would end up with Muni in my gazpacho. We also have a problem with far too many pigeons plus we have the problem of sea gulls. Then there is the fact that many of the so-called outdoor restaurants in Paris aren't really outdoors anyway. They just feature glass enlosed sections which protrude out from the main building so that one gets the feeling of being on the sidewalk. In some cases you might be at sidewalk level but are still separated from pedestrian traffic by this glass overhead and wall. Also, sidewalk dining there is more apt to be present at a corner bistro than at a full service restaurant. The other issue which many people overlook is that the sidwalks in Paris which feature these arrangements are, on average, much wider than Ssn Francisco sidewalks. The only sidewalks in this city that come close to duplicating Paris in width are on Market Street between the Ferry Building and Van Ness which are possibly the worst places in the world for outdoor dining.

If the city wants to relax some of its regulations in this regards, lots of luck, but you won't find me trying to get a seat at an outdoor table. Even the incredibly crowded Champ Elysees in Paris is far more conducive to outdoor dining than most streets in San Francisco.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Is hope still alive?

I see that the House of Representatives has rejected an anti-gay amenedment on same sex marriage. Also, the Senate has approved a bill supporting stem cell research. There yet may be hope to beat back the Bush and his minions on these matters. But no matter, I want to leave the country anyway. This is the pits no matter how you look at it. It stinks from one end to the the other and there is little hope that it will be getting any better during the next thirty years which is the most I can expect out of this old frail body of mine anyway.

The war in the Middle East also has the ability to knock everyone on their collective asses as what we have sown for the past sixty years or so is about to come home and destroy us. I just hope I can complete my next two vacations to France and to Thailand before the bottom falls out of this. In fact, if I should get stuck in one country or the other, well, oh poor me. What would I ever do??? heh heh heh

Bush is such an airhead. I have never seen such a dimwit in my lifetime. This has nothing to do with disagreeing with his policies at all. He is just so damn stupid! No ifs, ands, or butts. He is a embarrassment to this country and to the world!

So who are the major parties going to nominate for the 2008 elections? I hate to think. I hear rumors that Gov. Romney (R-Massachusetts) (Mussolini II) is considering running with John McCain (he should know better) as his running mate. Then we have Hillary Clinton, a popular Democrat who is probably too conservative for her own good. Oh god, it is so damn hopeless. How do we get this country back to the middle of the road and beat back these damn Christian fundamentalists who want to resurrect the Roman Inquisition to meet their own agenda. To hell with them all.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

The madness continues...

First Bush wants foreign companies to manage our ports. Now he is selling off bridges and roads in the U.S. to foreign companies. What next? Will he be selling the White House to foreign investors? Oh, wait a minute. He can't do that as it is already owned by U.S. investors and lobbyists. Well, maybe the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building? What a complete blithering idiot this Bush is! Where was he when God handed out brains? Oh, that is right. He thought God said trains and we all know that Bush does not like trains as exhibited by his continual efforts to dismanatle Amtrak. And now he is blocking peace efforts in the Middle East at a very critical juncture in the continuing conflicts there. Even at the G8 in Moscow he is blocking Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization. I have never seen such a fool in my life and he should be impeached immediately but since big business owns the government lock, stock and barrel, that is not about to happen.

Ugh, I need another gin & tonic!

Monday, July 10, 2006

Quiet day

It was a quiet day as I waited for the St. Vincent de Paul Society Thrift Store truck to stop by for some donations. As expected, they would not take the metal typing stand. They did take the wooden bed frame that I retired recently as well as a CD tower plus one hard shell suitcase that I threw in at the last moment plus a laptop computer case which I had acquired second hand but never used for that purpose. Now what to do with typing stand? I know that typwriters are not something that we see much of these days but this is a sturdy metal table with a drop extension leaf and large sturdy retractable wheels. It could make someone a nice utility table in a garage or workshop. I just wish I knew how to get it out of my hair. Salvation Army would not take it either. Anyway, while waiting for them to arrive I got a lot of reading done and I spent some time planning the further re-organization of this apartment.

Problems, problems...

Oh, great, Caltrans is building a new eastern span of the Bay Bridge because the old one was subject to damage from earthquakes. Now we learn that the new span is being built with inferior concreate. Will it withstand the big one?

Then on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley Cody's Bookstore is closing. There is one still on Fourth Street which I have never been in and there is a big new store on Stockton Street in San Francisco where Planet Hollywood used to be. It is big, bright, and shiny with tons of books but few customers when compared to Borders which is only two blocks away. Will this store be able to survive? A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books closed recently so I wondering about the viability of any physical bookstore these days. The Virgin store next to Cody's get a fair amount of customers but then stores like that play to the lowest common demoninator, not intellect, as do book stores. Maybe when the new Bloomingdales and expanded SF Shopping Center open in a few months, foot traffic will increase enough so that additional people will find their way to Cody's on Stockton Street. I hope they survive as it is a good alternative to the sometimes overcrowded Borders on Powell Street.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

DANGER...DANGER

If you are thinking to upgrading to Roxio Easy Media Creator 8, DON'T!. It is the biggest pile of garbage I have ever encountered anyway at anytime. I am not a computer newbie and while not an expert IT person, I know enough to realise that this over bloated pile of shit is not worth the $100 if costs. It is not even worth $1. When a program consistently crashes your computer and makes it impossible to shut down the computer or does not even look like the beautiful interfaces depicted in their ads or on their boxes of shitware in CompUSA, then you KNOW that something is seriously wrong.


I just hope now that I can return this disk and get my money back. Then I will seriously consider Nero or some other program.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

From day to day...

I guess there is a lot going on but then again, there may not be. This crazy world we live in just seems to be getting crazier all the time and no one seems to know how to fix the problems we have. Now our illustrious governator, wants to send some prison inmates out of state because there is not room for them here. Well, it may relieve overcrowding here but it certainly does not address the issue of why people end up in prison in the first place. The reasons are many of course and will not be the subject of this blog as it would go on forever if I undertook that task but the out of sight - out of mind approach does not work and this country must look at why we have such a huge prison population compared to other countries.

And once again we have an article in the Chronicle about the fact that BART ridership to the airport has not lived up to expectations. Sorry guys but I could have told you ahead of time that it wouldn't. I have experience with other transit systems to airports and even in Paris where the trains go to many places and are very convenient, most people deplaning at Charles de Gaule Airport still opt for taxis. Door-to-door transportation either via taxi or shuttle van was, is, and always will be the preferred method of transportation especialy when lugging around one or more large suitcases. I have witnessed this in Paris, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. The problem in Paris is just the opposite of here in San Francisco however. The BART line to the airport has few riders so even one large suitcase (if not taken during rush hour) is not a problem but the RER "B" line in Paris is so heavily used at all times that once your train is two or three stops away from the aiport, anything bigger than a lap top computer becomes a problem. (BART should be so lucky.) I really would like to know what they based their ridership projections on. It certainly could not have been based on anything in the real world. I am glad they built it but the alternate plan of the Sky Train extending to and from the Milbrae BART station would have been a preferred and less costly way of doing things. Now we have BART officials trying to blame lack of riders on the dot-com bust (I thought we were out of the woods there.), 9/11 (Can we still blame that for anything?) and SARS (Oh really - how many thousands died here from that?). Anyway, back to the Sky Train for a moment. It goes to all terminals not just the international terminal which is the only one BART goes to so if a passenger is going to have to transfer to another mode of transport, what would have been wrong with doing it at Milbrae? This was certainly not a case of "If you build it, they will come."

Now I see that Senator Hilary Clinton has a problem. How to handle the same-sex marriage issue as she contemplates running for either re-election or running for president. That could very well be the most difficult issue of the campaign even in liberal New York. Personally I have a problem with the term marriage as it opens up a whole hornets nest of legal issues especially if the partners "divorce". Why not stick with the term union and find other ways to deal with community property, health care, and adoption issues?

And here in liberal San Francisco the wackos at City Hall have taken the smoking issue out onto the streets by passing a law forbiding smoking around bus stops. Oh, come on now, how the hell are you supposed to inforce that one? For example, as I was walking down Van Ness Avenue the other day and passed a bus stop at Geary, one or more people were smoking. Yes, I smelled the smoke as I would from any other smoker walking down the street but what was I to do? Quickly get on my cell phone and report a crime being committed at the bus stop?????? Come on folks, get real!

Oh enough already. Let me go somewhere else where people seem to have their heads screwed on correctly, but where? That is the $64,000 Question!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Overnight Delivery???

Oh, great, as of 6:40 AM today, my package, plus one other, showed up in the lobby area of my building. I wonder where it was between 10:40 AM (the official delivery time) and this morning. It sure wasn't in the "lobby" as of late yesterday afternoon. Does that mean that UPS found the package on a truck somewhere and snuck in late last night with it or did some inattentive tenant take it thinking it was his or hers only to discover late yesterday that is wasn't. Grrr...

Oh, and one other thing. Why do I feel like singing "Ding dong, the witch is dead"? In this case however you would have to change that to "Ding dong, the warlock is dead" in reference to Ken Lay. Da poor ting...

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Undoubtedly Poor Service

UPS = Undoubtedly Poor Service

These yahoos have failed big time during the past two weeks. About two weeks ago they couldn't find the building that I live in or the apartment. They said the apartment number was missing from the package but why is that when my copy of the order and billing invoice had the information correct? If it was in fact missing, why couldn't the driver simply come up to the building intercom, find my name and apartment number, and ring me. Well, I guess that was far too complicated for these bozos. When they finally did deliver the 70 pound package, instead of calling me from the intercom ahead of time, a simple task I would think, they haul this heavy package up the steep 20 stairs or so of this building to the security gate and take off. They did not even have the courtesy to let me know the package was there. Then I really had a problem becuase I do not have a hand truck and my small luggage carrier cannot handle the weight. So I started pushing and got it to the first of five short stairs leading up to the elevator landing at the back of thd first floor only to pull a muscle. That has bothered me for two weeks now. Fortunately a neighbor saw my problem and came over to help me lift it just enough to that I could slide it the remaining distance to and into the elevator.

Now today another package was out for delivery and I have been waiting all day for it. Upon checkinig with the UPS website, the information shown is that it was delivered at 10:24 AM today. NOT SO. There is no package here. Where the hell did they put it? Since they did not ring this apartment again I can only assume that they left it outside the security gate again and this being a small package, that someone stole it. As I write this someone in customer service is supposed to be checking as to where it was delivered. They better find it otherwise they owe me $111.30. Also, I am tempted to file a formal complaint with UPS regarding their lack of service as well as file a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission. This is ridiculous. This is WORSE than ridiculous actually.

I will never ever use UPS again even if it means using the slightly slower United State Postal Service where possible or FedEx for heavier items. I have wasted more damn time waiting for their non-deliveries and on the B.S. the past two weeks that I am now livid to say the least.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July

There are a number of good letters to the editor of the SF Chronicle this morning but I especially liked the first one by Riley B. Vandyke of San Francisco. He said it all.

So what are you going to do on the 4th? As for me, well, I will be spending some time at the SF Museum of Modern Art and then around 2 in the afternoon at a barbecue with some friends. That is about it.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

There is yet hope for this country...

When I read news stories like this one I am encouraged to believe that there are some sensible people out there who might yet make a difference. There is no sense to our being in Iraq and creating more terrorists in the process. We often complain here about photo ops from the president but why don't people complain about the photo ops that some citizens of Iraq indulge in, aided and abbetted by certain members of the U.S. press, when Iraqi's proclaim that they want democracy and they want Americans here. Such photos ops ring false and only serve to brainwash some gullible Americans into thinking we are wanted and should be there. If we could have captured Saddam Hussein within the first month following the invasion and then left, it would have been an entirely different situation but we have destroyed the country in an effort to "save" it.