Bush proved himself to be just as inept in the debate tonight as he had been the past four years ago. This country will be in deep do-do if that man is re-elected. As for Kerry, my choice, he sounded better tonight than he has at any time since the DNC. I hope he does as well in the next two debates. Watching the debate was not easy and I am sure that the tenant directly above me must have thought there was a big argument going on at times earlier tonight. No, it was only me uttering my disgust with the bush in tones that were none too soft at times.

"You know what I mean, damn it, so don't dispute my word." 

Have you ever wondered whether or not the people who create computer viruses, worms, spyware, etc., aren't disgruntled and former employees of Symantec, McAfee, Zone Labs, and other companies whose job it is to protect us from these miscreants? Just a thought but one friend of mine suggested they might even be current employees and this might be a way to guarantee job security.

By the way, the photo of the Eiffel Tower posted yesterday was simply a test of some new software which makes it easier to post photos to this site.

Eiffel Tower in Paris. One of my favorite cities and a great platform for viewing that city. 

Question: Isn't it a bit hypocritical for people to complain about Europeans (private and public) expressing their opinions about who they would like to see win the November election? These people are saying the Europe should not interfere in the election process but for years the U.S. Government has interfered in one way or another with other countries to influence things for good and bad. As the old saying goes, what comes around goes around.

Just as I expected, the name Monster Park is already causing confusion and will most likely promote the business that did not win the naming rights. These days most people think of monster.com when they hear the name Monster and that is what one woman on TV thought last night when interviewed about the name change. Unless a person purchases high end audio and video equipment, they probably won't be familiar with Monster Cable products. That company really made a mistake by not including their full name in the name of the park. Since they put out the money it should be Monster Cable Park so that people don't think that Monster Park is really monster.com. I wonder if they can renegotiate and change the signs again.

"Strong Quake Strikes California" is the headline that I am seeing on serveral Internet newsites. Oh, come on, give me a break. It was only a small one and it was in a rural area. It didn't even do any damage In Paso Robles which suffered from another quake last December. The press in this country is out of control. They are either exaggerating stories of not asking the right questions especially when it comes to getting the truth from politicians and their cronies. I think they should all go back to journalism school but then again, maybe the schools of journalism are the real problem. Anyway, one report I heard said it was felt as far north a San Francisco. Really? I didn't feel it. In fact, I never felt any of the aftershocks following the 1989 Loma Prieta quake which occurred a lot closer to this city than this latest temblor in Parkfield.

Monster Park? Really? Why not Monster Cable Park? Monster Park sounds more like a description of that terrible stadium formerly known as Candlestick Park or 3Com Park than it does an official name.

And what with these activists who want to tear down Hetch Hetchy and replace it some sort of green or clean power as well as water from some other source still to be identified. What sort of pills have these people been taking anyway. If they want everything to revert back to its pristine nature why the hell don't we just turn back the clock two hundred years so there would be no more electricity or any of the other modern conveniences we have. We could all start riding horses again to work or work on the family farm in the valley formerly known as Silicon Valley. Maybe someone should just invent a time machine and send these people back on their own so they don't mess things up here in 2004.

As for other problems, I am in the midst of planning my next vacation to Thailand and having been there three times already, planning activities for the daytime is becoming more and more difficult. Just what do I do from "9 to 5" anyway? Evenings are no problem (LOL) but now I am faced with a very full social calendar before I even get there. It is such a problem that I might need a vacation following the vacation. (LOL) Now you are probably asking why I am going back for a fourth visit if I have seen all the major attractions. Well, for one thing it is winter here in January and I enjoy going to a warmer climate at that time. I am not a beach person so the usual beach resorts that many people go to are not an option for me. Even in Thailand they are not on my radar screen. I am a city boy as they say although I do enjoy the more laid back atmosphere of relatively small Chiang Mai vs. the huge and hectic Bangkok. It is nice to see the country side and mountains too but generally I just like the country and the people there and now, after three visits, I know people there and can visit them and not worry about doing the typical touristy things.

I feel good about one thing at home here as I finally completed the scanning of all of my slides. I started this in January and yesterday I completed binder 7 of 7. There are still some unsorted and uncatalogued slides but these are few in number so the project is essentially complete anyway. Next up is the more tedious project of scanning numerous 35mm color and black & white film strips. That may take most of 2005 to complete. After that, who knows.

Question: Are the people in Iraq going to accept a partial election in January 2005 any better than we did in November 2000? I don't think so and this will only lead to further chaos. Rumsfeld is such a dummy!

Just a reminder that with this new format you can add comments to the postings if you desire by clicking on the COMMENTS link at the end of each post. Keep it nice however as I can and will delete anything that is too outrageous. Thank you.

Halloween is rapidly approaching. That is not scary but what is is the fact that three months from today is Christmas. Yikes! Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? I haven't and don't plan to. That is, I only need one gift and I am never sure what to buy that one person so I gave up years ago trying to figure it out. Now I just buy whatever pops into my mind at the last minute. Ha!

Attorney-General Rumsfeld continues to make an ass of himself. No matter what he says, he sounds so much like a whiney, frustrated little boy who can't get anyone to believe what he says. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling". Or - "things are improving in Iraq". If he would like to spend a few billion of pentagon funds in the Bay Area, I have a couple of lovely bridges that I would like to sell him.

When a person is afraid, he or she runs from the object or person that is feared. Fear seems to take many forms including looking for threats under every rock, in every closet, behind every door, wherever. Paranoia sets in then and paralyzes the person so rational actions become nearly impossible.

Mass hysteria or paranoia has set in with the U.S. government which is losing it's ill conceived war in Iraq and now that fear is spreading to the average voters who are being brainwashed into thinking that this country will be safe with Bush in the White House for another four years. Since 9/11 took place on the watch of Bush/Cheney, why will another years with them be safer than Kerry/Edwards? True, Kerry has not articulated his positions very well and Edwards seems to have gone into hiding, at least here in California, but the threat of terror remains and there is nothing Bush/Cheney can do about it.

The U.S. Government has been its own worst enemy for years especially with the unconditional support of Israel. Is it any wonder that the Palestinians don't trust us? Yes, there are threats to Israel but they are the result of Israeli policies in Palestine. We should have taken a stronger stance with regard to Israeli policy in the Middle East but we didn't and now it is too late to do anything effective there.

There are evil men in the world. Saddam Hussein was one but that was an internal matter for the Iraqis, not for the U.S. Had we worked with the U.N. we would not be in the mess we are in now, but no, Cowboy George had to go riding in with 6-guns a-blazing to kill the despot and bring freedom to the enslaved people there. All he brought was chaos. Now elections are scheduled for January 2005 but now our government says that, well, maybe some parts of the country may not be able to hold an election due to the continuing violence. Well, what the heck. It doesn't matter that much what the potential voters in those regions think anyway. Look at us! We conducted an election but didn't count all the votes in Florida but George Bush was still "elected" anyway. No big deal! If things don't turn out the way WE want, we will just appoint/install OUR man in the top office anyway.

Something we must not lose sight of in all of this confusion is that MONEY/OIL drives the world now as supplies dwindle. We wanted to control the oil fields in Iraq. We are looking at them elsewhere too. Now Texaco/Chevron is trying to deal with Russia and its major petrochemical businesses for natural gas and oil there. I wonder what will happen if that deal falls through. Instead of developing alternative sources of energy and pooling the scientific resources of all countries to work on the problem, we continue to rape and pillage the planet and its finite resources. When will the human race wake up or will it ever?

Oh-oh...here comes Jeanne. Batten down the hatches. There have been three good reasons in recent weeks why I would never live in Florida and now a fourth one comes along. This is in addition to the boring nature of that very conservative and narrow minded state.

I guess I won't be singing anymore Elton John songs at Karaoke following his rudeness at the airport in Taipei. He has insulted my good friends there by this uncalled for behavior. You can read the news here. What an idiot!

Don't forget - now you can add your own commments to the posts here. All you have to do is click on the Comments link at the end of each day's posts.

Now here is music, or in this case, silence to my ears:

-------------------
Some Mexican churches are using state-of-the-art technology developed by Israeli electronic warfare experts to silence cell phones that ring during mass, church officials said on Tuesday.Four churches in the northern city of Monterrey, which lies some two hours by car south of the Texas border, are using equipment made by Israeli telecoms equipment firm Netline Communications Technologies to block incoming calls during services.

The Tel Aviv-based company was set up in 1998 by former military and defense industry specialists to develop mobile telephone jamming systems, mainly for the security industry.

"Before we had the system, it was very uncomfortable hearing calls coming in during the celebration of mass. But now it's 95 percent quiet," said Bulmaro Carranza, a caretaker at the city's Baroque-style Sacred Heart church. The signal-jamming equipment is packed into two wall-mounted boxes the size of small hi-fi speakers, with one beside the altar and the other at the church entrance.

Switched on just before the start of every service, the system causes a "no signal" message to be displayed on worshipers' phones, but causes them no lasting damage.

"We believe that we were the first church in Mexico to use this technology," Carranza said. "Now we are getting calls from all over the country to see how it can be installed."

---------------------

We need this device in theaters, concert halls, and other public spaces in the U.S.

John Kerry's Top Ten as revealed on the David Letterman show:

Kerry's "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S. Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of "nucular."

1. George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

Killer drink?

"The creator of one of the world's most famous guns, the AK-47 assault rifle, launched another weapon in Britain Monday -- Kalashnikov vodka.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, who invented the AK-47 after being shot by German soldiers during World War II, said he wanted to continue "the good name" of his gun.

"I've always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things," he told Reuters Television.

"So we decided to create a vodka under my name. And we wanted that vodka to be better than anything made, up until now, in both Russia and England."

The Kalashnikov rifle has become the weapon of choice for guerrillas and gangsters across the world. But Kalashnikov said his original intentions for the gun were purely patriotic.

"I did not create the gun for international conflicts, I created it to protect the borders of my country," he said.

"It is not my fault that it has been spread all over the world. It is its reliability and its simplicity that have taken it all over the world."

Promoters of Kalashnikov vodka say it is "made from grain harvested in Russia and water drawn from Lake Ladoga north of St Petersburg" and is best drunk with friends. "

OLD BLOG - NEW LOOK

Yes, this is my old home here at blogger.com but I decided a new look was needed. I hope this is a little easier on the eyes as well as being a more pleasant design. Also new is a link which allows readers to leave comments on my postings.

Keep your hands off the ball!

What is so difficult about the concept of letting the hired players play the game? Why do so many fans want to grab a ball that is in play. Fan interference changes the play and can be disadvantageous to either team. Take today's hit by J.T. Snow at SBC Park. True, the bases were loaded so a couple of run did score but J.T. had to stop at second base and the runner approaching third had to stop there. That cost us a run but other incidents have been such that the outcome of the game was effected. That unruly fan was escorted out of the park but I think more needs to be done such as fine the offenders at least $100 for the first offense in addition to be ejected from the park and then higher for subsequent offenses. There has just been too much of this and it has to stop - NOW.

STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF! At least that might be what I feel if Bush wins in November. One statement out of his camp that was especially galling was Cheney's remark that there might be another terrorist attack if John Kerry is in the White House. Really? Doesn't he realize that 9/11 took place on his watch?

Now, some Bush oppponents are raising the fear of more wars during a Bush second term to which a former West Point professor responds that this is "fear-mongering". Here is part of the news story:
---------------------
" Playing on the fear factor, Vice President Dick Cheney suggested in a campaign speech there might be another terrorist attack on the United States if John Kerry were in the White House.

President Bush's opponents' are raising their own worst fears, including the potential for more wars during a second Bush term.

"That's fear-mongering," said Joseph Carafano, a 25-year Army veteran and former West Point professor who now is an analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The rhetoric continued during the weekend. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., speaking at a Saturday night fund-raiser in DeKalb, Ill., said his opinion is that the al-Qaida terror network could operate better with Kerry in the White House instead of Bush. Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, issued a statement Sunday accusing Hastert of using the "politics of fear," which Edwards said is a "clear sign of weakness and failed leadership."

----------------

I have always been a news junkie but tend to go nuclear when Bush appears on the TV screen and starts uttering nonsense. As a result, I try to stay away from news programs that feature prodiminantly national news. The Internet is safer as I can control what I watch and read.

By the way, George Orwell was off a few years. His book "1984" should have been called "2004".

Bush makes my blood boil. The sight and sound of him makes my blood pressure go up. Even worse is that some people in this country believe him. The contents of one letter in this morning's newspaper says it all.

" How do any more than two or three idiots find, in the emptiness of their heads, reason to support Bush, this cowboy without a horse?

When you try to add up his accomplishments, you wind up counting a negative. Bush has so raped the middle- and lower-income classes -- a majority of the population -- as well as the environment, the reputation and the safety of this nation and world, and has obligated the government to debt that our grandchildren's children will be paying off, decades from now -- while pretending to be a hero -- that it's just absurd! Even Reagan never embarrassed me so. "

Charley - Frances - Ivan, and next Jeanne???

Question: Why do we need Bush in the White House to protect us against an attack by terrorists when it was he who was in the White House on 9/11?

Guess I have not been on these pages in a few days. Life seems so grim on the international scene and national politics is ugly and baseball at the Oakland coliseum is ugly (with debris and chair being tossed by fans). What is this world coming to? Have we all lost any sense of decency? Doesn't anyone care about their neighbors or anyone else anymore for that matter. Too many people seem be only interested in making money although some people just need to survive and the Bush administration is not helping there. Oh, they help their rich buddies get richer but they won't do much for the little person because it costs too much and there is no federal money for various programs. Well, if they would stop wasting billions of dollars in Iraq there would be money for health care and other programs but then what would poor Halliburton, Cheney, and others do. Oh, da poor tings! Arrghhhhhhhhhh.......... (Somebody get me a barf bag.)

In one of Bush's latest attacks on John Kerry, he says that if Kerry had been in power instead of him, that Saddam Hussein would still be in power. Well, of course. Hussein did not attack us. There was no legal reason to attack and depose him. We committed an illegal act by interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. Hussein was despicable but our invasion was equally so. What part of this does not the mental retard Bush understand? He can go to hell!

And the people who continually harp of the major candidates' service or war records are way off base no matter how true or untrue the accusations are. The candidates should be talking about the issues of running the country, not what who did to whom thirty years ago. How stupid can you get.

The continuing negative campaigning especially as regards Kerry's Vietnam record and Bush's Texas Air National Guard record are really getting to be too much. Why harp on things that happened thirty years ago? We have to live now, in 2004, and must look forward to solving our problem now and for the future. We can't be quibbling over alleged incidents in the past. That will get us nowhere. I heard tonight on the news that negative campaigning works. Well, the only way it works with me is to turn me off and desire to skip the election completely.

Unpopular names in 2004: Charley, Frances, and possibly Ivan. With any luck, that will be it for this year.

Slightly cooler in SF today. Yesterday we tied a record at 94 degrees. All things considered it made for a great Labor Day weekend. People had a chance to actually enjoy Ocean Beach and the Giants had a three game series against the Diamondbacks and won all three. I am sure there were many backyard barbecues and picnics galore although many state and regional parks were closed due to the high fire danger.

This morning I took a walk downtown and sat in Union Square drinking coffee before heading off on some errands in the neighborhood. Three days without wearing even the lightest of jackets is most unsual here. Saturday night I was out late (and I mean late) and did not need a jacket at 2 AM. Most unsual!

Aha...I told you so. "U.S. oil prices eased on Tuesday as the head of the OPEC cartel said markets were well-supplied with crude and traders continued to take profits from this year's 40 percent rally..." Seems like the well orchestrated plans from Bush & Co. is working. At least for the moment. On the bad news front for all concerned, U.S. deaths in Iraq have now reached the 1000 mark. And what has this accomplished other than to get rid of Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with 9/11? Such a waste!

And now, just a Frances starts to leave, we might have Ivan to worry about.

Labor/Labour Day - 2004

This will begin in earnest, the fall campaign. It has been bad enough in recent weeks with all the mudslinging, lies, and distortions from the Republican camp, but it can only get worse now. One thing I think I will do is to read Pat Buchanan's new book on what has gone wrong in the Republican party. I saw a portion of an interview with him on the Internet and he makes sense and whets my appetite for more information.

Sitting here at the computer keyboard I am labor/labouring over what to write, if anything. Sure, the SF heat waves continues (two days in a row in the nineties) but it looks as if it will moderate some today. Actually, September and October are traditionally the warmest two months of the year and as Herb Caen used to like to point out, it would warm up after the tourists left on this holiday weekend. I could get into the reasons for this phenomenon but I won't although it involves the positioning of the perennial "Pacific High" and more equal barometric pressure between the coastline and the inland California valleys. Enough said on that for now.

Florida is still having to deal with Frances and if everything goes wrong they might have to deal with Ivan in the coming weeks. When I was a child and hurricanes always carried female names, there was a bad joke about why they were all named after women. The answer to the question as to why was because they are hurricanes and not himacanes. (That works better verbally than it does in print.)

The San Francisco Opera and Symphony open their respective seasons this week so fall has arrived along with the warm weather which is a problem in the Opera House which does not have air-conditioning unless you like the hot air-con of that place. Also coming up soon are the Folsom Street and the Castro Street fairs. Then Halloween falls on a Sunday this year. What a way to end the weekend.

91 degrees in San Francisco today! This is the third day of a heat wave which apparently will end tomorrow. It has been a good weekend however as the Giants swept the Diamondbacks in their three game series here. The Dodgers lost and Cubs games were cancelled due to hurricane Frances.

Tonight I have again been listening to the recordings made on the Wanamaker Organ (Lord & Taylor store in Philadelphia) and that is an amazing instrument. It is one of the two largest pipe organs in this country (the biggest is in the Atlantic City Convention Hall) but this organ, while still undergoing restoration, sounds wonderful. The tonal range of its voices is best exemplified by such diverse pieces as Franck's Piece Heroique and the Concerto No. 4 by Handel or the Flute Tune by Arne. Disc Two ends with the complete Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky. Another study in contrasts of organ voicing.

So some of the military records regarding George Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard are missing. Hmm...something fishy going on here. This reminds me of the 18-1/2 minutes of blank tape on the Nixon tapes at the time of Watergate. There defininetly seems to be a coverup here of some sort but we are certain that the gestapo won't let the information out until it is too late.

Also interesting in the news this weekend is that the capture of Osama bin Laden might be close. Months ago many people predicted he would be caught just prior to the U.S. elections and now it appears that that might happen. Have these people no shame?

It looks as if Janet Jackson started something. Now the Australian contestant at the Miss Universe contest also suffered a "wardrobe malfunction". Very interesting!

I wish Get Smart would get smart and dump that annoying little kid who appears in their TV commercials.

Now that the RNC (Revolting National Convention) is over, we still have to endure two months of lies, distortions, and mud slinging and apparently Bush is now ahead in the polls. I sure hope that doesn't last. The big problem seems to be that people are so scared that they fear one or more terrorists attacks in future and feel that Bush is best equipped to handle that. That he would be a strong president on terrorism. Interesting but that didn't stop 9/11. It is a far more complex problem than that pea brained nincompoop can handle.

Unfortunately Kerry is not very inspiring but he is the only one I can vote for. I am not sure why he won so many Democratic primaries. He was sure not my first choice and now we are stuck with him. Kerry needs to come out swinging after this Labor Day weekend and hit Bush in the bread basket. Also he needs to use John Edwards more extensively and other prominent Democrats in the campaign. My favorite speakers from the Democratic party from the past were Barbara Jordan and Mario Cuomo. More recently Barak Obama.

Guess it is time to go take my blood pressure pills and have a lie down. ha ha ha

Yes, I am still here, wherever that is. Not much going on these days really. Today was a lovely day as I went to Oakland to have lunch with some former co-workers. I enjoyed that very much. One of them, Phyllis, is now leaving the firm to move to Las Vegas so this was a farewell luncheon for her. It was also my first opportunity to see the office I left in March 1999 which was subsequently remodeled.

Dubya and company are winding up there gabfest of misinformation tonight and I have been fairly successful in avoiding them so my blood pressure remains fairly normal. The next two months however, will be hell. I don't want to cut myself off from the news but I am not sure how I can listen to the news and stay calm when Bush and Cheney start yacking away. Any suggestions?