It has been a busy week with the gym, the optometrist, and a new project to scan slides for a client in Oakland. Also, I continue to lose weight, more weight than I think I had intended when I signed up at the gym. Something seems to be working too well. What do I do? I have practically eliminated all sweets, especially my one big craving of Haagen Daaz chocolate ice cream. Have not eaten much else in the way of sweets either. My overall caloric intake has been reduced in an effort to get rid of some excess baggage around the middle but I am not sure that is working well. How much overall weight do I have to lose to get ride of that? I can't afford to lose anymore or I am going to end up looking like Twiggy. Yikes!

Spent some time watching the Peregrine Falcons on the PG&E building webcam this afternoon. I tuned in just in time (approx. 5:30 PM) to see the four little balls of fluff being fed. I wonder how long it will take for feathers to grow and for their first flying lesson.

I have my first cold of the year and a "code in the node" is no fun so I think I will stay home tonight and rest up. I have had the sniffles all week but it seems to have gotten worse today.

America's Dark Ages

The Crusaders Christian evangelicals are plotting to remake America in their own image.

By BOB MOSER

It's February, and 900 of America's staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to look back on what they accomplished in last year's election -- and to plan what's next. As they assemble in the vast sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, with all fifty state flags dangling from the rafters, three stadium-size video screens flash the name of the conference: RECLAIMING AMERICA FOR CHRIST. These are the evangelical activists behind the nation's most effective political machine -- one that brought more than 4 million new Christian voters to the polls last November, sending George W. Bush back to the White House and thirty-two new pro-lifers to Congress. But despite their unprecedented power, fundamentalists still see themselves as a persecuted minority, waging a holy war against the godless forces of secularism. To rouse themselves, they kick off the festivities with "Soldiers of the Cross, Arise," the bloodthirstiest tune in all of Christendom: "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto. They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody. Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."

The godfather of the Dominionists is D. James Kennedy, the most influential evangelical you've never heard of. A former Arthur Murray dance instructor, he launched his Florida ministry in 1959, when most evangelicals still followed Billy Graham's gospel of nonpartisan soul-saving. Kennedy built Coral Ridge Ministries into a $37-million-a-year empire, with a TV-and-radio audience of 3 million, by preaching that it was time to save America -- not soul by soul but election by election. After helping found the Moral Majority in 1979, Kennedy became a five-star general in the Christian army. Bush sought his blessing before running for president -- and continues to consult top Dominionists on matters of federal policy.

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," Kennedy says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

At Reclaiming America, most of the conference is taken up by grassroots training sessions that supply ministers, retirees and devout churchgoers with "The Facts of Stem-Cell Research" or "Practical Steps to Impact Your Community with America's Historical Judeo-Christian Heritage." "We're going to turn you into an army of one," Gary Cass, executive director of Reclaiming America, promises activists at one workshop held in Evangalism Explosion Hall. The Dominionists also attend speeches by supporters like Rep. Katherine Harris of Florida, who urges them to "win back America for God." In their spare time, conference-goers buy books about a God-devised health program called the Maker's Diet or meet with a financial adviser who offers a "biblically sound investment plan."

To implement their sweeping agenda, the Dominionists are working to remake the federal courts in God's image. In their view, the Founding Fathers never intended to erect a barrier between politics and religion. "The First Amendment does not say there should be a separation of church and state," declares Alan Sears, president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, a team of 750 attorneys trained by the Dominionists to fight abortion and gay marriage. Sears argues that the constitutional guarantee against state-sponsored religion is actually designed to "shield" the church from federal interference -- allowing Christians to take their rightful place at the head of the government. "We have a right, indeed an obligation, to govern," says David Limbaugh, brother of Rush and author of Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity. Nothing gets the Dominionists to their feet faster than ringing condemnations of judicial tyranny. "Activist judges have systematically deconstructed the Constitution," roars Rick Scarborough, author of Mixing Church and State. "A God-free society is their goal!"

Activist judges, of course, are precisely what the Dominionists want. Their model is Roy Moore, the former Alabama chief justice who installed a 5,300-pound granite memorial to the Ten Commandments, complete with an open Bible carved in its top, in the state judicial building. At Reclaiming America, Roy's Rock sits out front, fresh off a tour of twenty-one states, perched on the flag-festooned flatbed of a diesel truck, a potent symbol of the "faith-based" justice the Dominionists are bent on imposing. Activists at the conference pose for photographs beside the rock and have circulated a petition urging President Bush to appoint Moore -- who once penned an opinion calling for the state to execute "practicing homosexuals" -- to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The other side knows we've got strongholds in the executive and legislative branches," Cass tells the troops. "If we start winning the judiciary, their power base is going to be eroded."
To pack the courts with fundamentalists like Moore, Dominionist leaders are planning a massive media blitz. They're also pressuring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist -- an ally who's courting support for his presidential bid -- to halt the long-standing use of filibusters to hold up judicial nominations. An anti-filibuster petition circulating at the conference blasts Democrats for their "outrageous stonewalling of appointments" -- even though Congress has approved more nominees of Bush than of any president since Jimmy Carter.
It helps that Dominionists have a direct line to the White House: The Rev. Richard Land, top lobbyist for the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, enjoys a weekly conference call with top Bush advisers including Karl Rove. "We've got the Holy Spirit's wind at our backs!" Land declares in an arm-waving, red-faced speech. He takes particular aim at the threat posed by John Lennon, denouncing "Imagine" as a "secular anthem" that envisions a future of "clone plantations, child sacrifice, legalized polygamy and hard-core porn."

The Dominionists are also stepping up efforts to turn public schools into forums for evangelism. In a landmark case, the Alliance Defense Fund is suing a California school district that threatened to dismiss a born-again teacher who was evangelizing fifth-graders. In the conference's opening ceremony, the Dominionists recite an oath they dream of hearing in every classroom: "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe."

Cass urges conference-goers to stack school boards with Dominionists. "The most humble Christian is more qualified for office than the best-educated pagan," says Cass, an anti-abortion activist who led a takeover of his school district's board in San Diego. "We built quite a little grass-roots machine out there. Now it's my burden to multiply that success all across America."

Cass points to the Rev. Gary Beeler, a Baptist minister from Tennessee who got permission for thousands of students to skip class and attend weeklong events that he calls "old-time revivals, with preaching and singing and soul-saving and the whole nine yards." Now, with support from Kennedy, Beeler is selling his house and buying a mobile home to spread his crusade nationwide. "It's not exactly what I planned to do with my retirement," he says. "But it's what God told me to do."

Cass also presents another small-town activist, Kevin McCoy, with a Salt and Light Award for leading a successful campaign to shut down an anti-bullying program in West Virginia schools. McCoy, a soft-spoken, prematurely gray postal worker, fought to end the program because it taught tolerance for gay people -- and thus, in his view, constituted a "thinly disguised effort to promote the homosexual agenda." "What America needs," Cass tells the faithful, "is more Kevin McCoys."

While the dominionists rely on grass-roots activists to fight their battles, they are backed by some of America's richest entrepreneurs. Amway founder Rich DeVos, a Kennedy ally who's the leading Republican contender for governor of Michigan, has tossed more than $5 million into the collection plate. Jean Case, wife of former AOL chief Steve Case -- whose fortune was made largely on sex-chat rooms -- has donated $8 million. And Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, is a major source of cash for Focus on the Family, a megaministry working with Kennedy to eliminate all public schools.

The one-two punch of militant activists and big money has helped make the Dominionists a force in Washington, where a growing number of congressmen owe their elections to the machine. Kennedy has also created the Center for Christian Statesmanship, which trains elected officials to "more effectively share their faith in the public arena." Speaking to the group, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay -- a winner of Kennedy's Distinguished Christian Statesman Award -- called Bush's faith-based initiatives "a great opportunity to bring God back into the public institutions of our country."

The most vivid proof of the Christianizing of Capitol Hill comes at the final session of Reclaiming America. Rep. Walter Jones, a lanky congressman from North Carolina, gives a fire-and-brimstone speech that would have gotten him laughed out of Washington thirty years ago. In today's climate, however, he's got a chance of passing his pet project, the Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act, which would permit ministers to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, effectively converting their tax-exempt churches into Republican campaign headquarters.

"America is under assault!" Jones thunders as his aides dash around the sanctuary snapping PR photos. "Everyone in America has the right to speak freely, except for those standing in the pulpits of our churches!" The amen chorus reaches a fever pitch. Hands fly heavenward. It's one thing to hear such words from Dominionist leaders -- but to this crowd, there's nothing more thrilling than getting the gospel from a U.S. congressman. "You cannot have a strong nation that does not follow God," Jones preaches, working up to a climactic, passionate plea for a biblical republic. "God, please -- God, please -- God, please -- save America!"

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Reprinted courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine.

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That is some scary stuff. I tell you, if the Democratic party leadership does not get some backbone and stand up to the Christian Gestapo, there are going to be some bad times ahead for all freedom loving people as freedom will go, is going down the tubes because of these misguided zealots. It is for that reason that I am seriously considering leaving this country to finish out my life in peace somewhere else. To stay here would be so infuriating that I would feel like joining the Taliban or some other fringe extremist group just to get back as those bastards but that is not what I want to do. I want to have a good life and I can but not here. Sorry, America, you blew it.

Here is one story that we should take with a huge grain of salt but it makes interesting reading anyway. It is about the the pope and the "end of the world". Ooooooo.....

Sometimes the marquees at your local cineplex can make interesting reading. For example, the Lumiere Theatre near me current has the following movies playing: DON'T MOVE
WINTER SOLTICE
SCHIZO

The trick is to read it fast from top to bottom. Sometimes the movie titles can actually make a complete sentence as they do in this case.

Tomorrow is a new day, or so said someone many years ago. Was it Scarlett O'Hara? Anyway, that is the way I felt last night after several glasses of Merlot. They put me a slightly better frame of mind and seemed to smooth out the rough edges of my political and social warfare against the members of the Christian Gestapo who want to ban books simply because they find them objectionable. I guess they never heard of NOT reading something. I guess that would be too easy such as changing the channel on the TV or turning the blasted thing off in the first place. So I had my own private happy hour at home last night but I think I will have a more public one at my favorite watering hole shortly. Two G&Ts should get my evening off to a good start especially the way Jason mixes them. Wheee...

This article in the SF Chronicle this morning validates some of what I was ranting about yesterday concerning anti-gay sentiments in this area and in this country. You can read the article by clicking here.

We live in perilous times in which the unholy inquisition is being launched by the protestants and not the Catholic Church. The religious right seems to have a grip on people's senses which will not easily be overcome. The immature society we live in just does not know how to handle things and they will strike out at anything and anybody they don't like or don't understad. It is pathetic to say the least.

I am really sick and tired of the fucking American politiciians who want to ban this or that. The latest pile of shit is the politician down south who wants to ban books about gay characters or written by gay authors. May he rot in hell! These bastards need to get a life! Even here in the so-called gay capital and capitol of tolerance, an Asian student, only about 12 years of age, is attacked and suffers blunt trauma force wounds. No robbery was committed so this could be a case of bigotry because he was Asian. It would not be the first time in this area.

Americans are a sick lot and really need to wake up and exam who they are and where they are going. They are completely out of step with the rest of the world and as someone once said, you will reap what you so, and so far a lot of hate has been sown here and around the world by these shit-ass small minded bastards. Unfortunately when 9/11 events happen they have no idea what happened or why and they make no attempt to learn why and correct the errors of their way. So sad, so sad.

If you think I am angry you are right. I would really like to leave this country once and for all. America's heyday is over and the future is very scary and disturbing. This is no longer a nice place to live and I will certainly advise my foreign correspondents and friends to stay out if they value their lives. America is going down the tubes very fast and if there is a bright side of this for me, it is that I am 66 years of age and won't be around to go through the tribulations which this country just beginning to suffer.

I am glad to see that I not the only one who feels that these people who want to eliminate Hetch Hetchy are idiots. Here is an excellent letter to the editor from this morning's newspaper on the same subject.
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"The Hetch Hetchy restoration people never give up, do they?

Now B. J. Swanson (Letters, April 25) perpetuates the foolish pipe dream, calling on San Francisco to store water "elsewhere" -- wherever that might be.

With its ever-growing population, the last thing California needs for the 21st century is reduced capacity for water storage and reduced generation of clean hydroelectric power.

Reason will prevail: O'Shaughnessy Dam will not be torn down; Hetch Hetchy Reservoir will not be drained; the valley in Yosemite National Park will not be restored. And that's that."

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Yes, hopefully reason will prevail. Also, these people who want the City and County of San Francisco to take over power distribution in the county are also nuts. They think that rates would go down but when in actuality, they would probably go up, in part because of the tremendous expense in buying out PG&E's infrastructure to do it. We also know that municipalities seldom do things more cheaply that private business. Don't they??!!?? This city has enough (too much really) expenses to do deal with and having to buy, maintain, and distribute electricity is not something they should be in the business of doing.

Those people in the Bay Area who want to dismantle the Hetch Hetchy Water system are full of hot air. Until they identify another source of water of equal size, they need to shut up and get a life. It is that simple. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that dismantling a dam and a reservoir will leave millions of people without water. Do these nincompoops thing that fresh water just magically materializes when then turn on their water faucets? Come on folks, grow up, get real!

There was an interesting article on Reuters this morning about the new Pope's forgetfulness as explained by his brother. You can read that by clicking here. Could this mean on the on-set of Alzheimer's disease?

Oh, ratz you say! Well, it has been quite a week. The last time I went on a vacation Schwarzenegger got elected governor of California and then this week while in NYC, the Darth Vader of the College of Cardinals gets elected Pope. I should stop going on vacation. Ha!

Anyway, I had a delightful time during my short three day visit taking in two performances at the Met (Die Walkuere and Faust) plus an interesting concert at Carnegie Hall entitled Shakespeare and Verdi. The Collegiate Choral, the Orchestra of St. Luke's and various soloists and actors and actresses presented scenes from Shakespeare's plays (Othello, Macbeth and Merry Wives of Windsor) while the musical portion presented the Verdi operatic rendition of the same scenes for Otello, Macbeth and Falstaff immediately following the straight dramatic snippts for each play. It was an unusual concept for a concert and was very entertaining.

Walked all over Manhattan but now I feel more like I have walked to the moon and back and this despite regular workouts at the gym. Anyway, this was certainly not my first visit to that city so I have seen just about everything of interest to me. The one thing new this time was a tour of the CNN studios in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle. I had been in CNN in Atlanta a number of years ago and wanted to compare and see what was new. The biggest difference and I still don't have an answer as to why, is the change from the "blue screen" to the "green screen" in the news rooms. Those colors must be used as those colors are not found in human pigment but our tour guide was unable to answer my question to why the change from blue to green. My own guess is that people like to wear blue shirts or suits so with the blue screen they could not do that and green, being less popular as a clothing color, was easier to work with. Hmm...maybe I should be the tour guide for that portion of the tour. Ha!

As I said, I did a lot of walking and rode the subways to get to distant end points in Queens, Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Traffic, as usual, is a mess. This is mostly the result of there being far too many cars in such a small space. Also, too many motorists cross the intersection with no hope of getting past the cross walk on the opposite side so as a result, when the light changes, they are still in the middle of the intersection, thus blocking traffic from the other direction. Even pedestrians crossing against the light are a significant cause for traffic delays. That city should not work but it does, if barely. Given the extensive rail network there is no real need to own a car anyway but I guess some people are married to their autos.

Now I have a ton of mail (regular and e) to sort through to get things back on a normal footing and back into my regular routine of eating, sleeping, shopping and going to the gym. Also, have my photos to download and sort through, some of which will appear over at my irving2004.net website within the coming week.

Complaint of the day: Why is it everytime I start to wash the dishes I have the sudden need to use that bathroom? I thought that reaction was only supposed to happen in hospital rooms. Ha!

Mark Morford's references an excerpt (see below) from a book by James Howard Kunstler which you can read here. This excerpt from "The Long Emergency" appears in Rolling Stone and is bone chilling to say the least. And if that is not enough, read The Crusaders which should have you running for the hills. I, for one, am certainly glad that I am not 20-something. Perhaps I will be gone by the time these things come to pass.

Here is Mark Morford's latest column. Very interesting but not cheerful reading early in the morning.

After reading it I decided I either needed another cup of coffee or I needed to start my Happy Hour early today. Ha!

With the conclave to elect a new pope only a few days away, speculation is increasing about who may be a contender. One news story this morning listed the following as possible papal successors: Cardinal Arinze (Nigeria), Cardinal Tettarnanzi (Italy), Cardinal Ratzinger (Germany), Cardinal Maradiaga (Honduras), Cardinal Schoenborn (Czech Republic), and Cardinal Hummes (Brazil). For more on this story click here.

Some dumb American writer/traveller complained in an article in today's Chronicle that she couldn't get vegetables in France. She even accused the French of not liking vegetables. Nothing could be further from the truth but in her warped vegetarain attitude, it was vegetables or nothing. You see, the French know how to eat and they eat everything in moderation. They don't super size junk food and even would like to stay away from unhealthy things but I guess once you are a vegetarian that means meat is poison, if only in the mind. I always had well balanced meals of meat or fish plus vegetables in my journeys to France. Rikke Jorgensen is a real twirp and needs to grow up.

On another matter, Tova Wolking of Oakland expresses some very good thoughts in her comments in the "2 Cents" column in which she says "This country is obsessed with Christian religion and imposition of so-called moral values on the private lives of others. Personal decisions about pregnancy, death and marriage have become public targets for extreme, often hateful judgment. It's a shame our country no longer values individual liberty and privacy rights." She is is dead-on with her comments. Thank you Ms. Wolking.

This being a Saturday, I only did my cardio routine on the treadmill today although, as I usually do on the weekends, I headed for the steam room and then the Jacuzzi afterwards. For some reason when I got home I was really tired out, more so than when I do my full routine during the week. Now I am wondering if it was the steam room/Jacuzzi combination that took so much out of me. Or could it have been the blueberry that got stuck in the straw in the drink I purchased at Jamba Juice following the gym routine. Yep, a blueberry got stuck in the straw and for a few moments I could neither suck it through or blow it back out the other end. What a predicament! LOL

Well, the religious right continues to attack the courts following the Terri Schiavo case. They still accuse the courts of some sort of activism even though the courts did a very good job of staying out of the Schiavo case. What is the wrong with those people? Are they brain dead?

Yes, I am still here. There doesn't seem to be much on my mind these days. Either that or there is too much on my mind. Ha! The gym and the diet the trainers handed me a couple of months ago seem to be having an effect. In fact, I am not sure part of what is happening is what was intended as someone called me "skinny" the other day. It was done behind my back but was loud enough for me to hear. Well, I did want to loose a little body fat around the middle but was not overweight to begin with so there may be some unintended effects of this diet. I am losing weight but did not really want to do that, per se, so now I am wondering how I can continue to achieve my goals without getting skinier??? My most immediate reaction to all of this is to increase my caloric intake but to still stay away from fatty foods and sweets as much as possible but I also have to be careful of overeating no matter what it is I eat. Dieting combined with workouts in the gym is a bitch. Ugh! What to do, what to do?!?!?!? Well, I could confuse some people by saying that they will be seeing less of me in the days and weeks ahead. Hmm...

AFTER photo...tram in Rome looks hideous with advertising. In fact, it is difficult to see where the windows are or what color it is painted. Let's hope that BART or Muni don't follow in the same direction.

Before being shrink wrapped in advertising, this tram in Rome looks very nice.

Ah yes, life is complicated these days in the U.K. as illustrated by this story but life must go on, mustn' it? Now a cynic might ask, what if the Queen dies this week? Yikes!!

You don't suppose we will ever see these prices again for gasoline do you? Photo taken by Yo in September 2002.

It is over. May he rest in peace.

Speculation now begins as to who the new pope will be and I was shocked to learn this morning that Cardinal Ratzinger is considered as a possibility. Good heavens, he would destroy all the good will that John Paul has built up over the years. That would be a grave mistake by the church to elect him. A cardinal from Nigeria is also on the short list. Several years ago I saw a report on such a list and it included cardinals from Mexico and Vietnam. Oh well, the three criteria still apply no matter what country the man is from. Those three criteria are conservative, conservative, conservative. One report I saw this morning indicated that the next pope might be an older person, that is, one who would not serve as long so he would be an interim pope. That was the intention with John XXIII but they sure got a surprise with his election. Not in longevity but in being a refomer when he called the Vatican II council.

Beautiful weather yesterday and today for a change here in SF. Spring has returned but for how long. They say it will be cooler tomorrow and Sunday. I guess that is OK as long as it doesn't rain. We have had more than our share for 04/05 although nearly as much as LA which is way over normal, much more so than SF.

Now it really seems like spring with the new baseball season about to open. This weekend the Battle of Bay is underway as the A's play the Giants in SF and in Oakland. These are the final games of spring training.

On a somber note, however, we have the impending death of Pope John Paul II. He is not expected to last much longer and now I would expect to wake up tomorrow morning with the news that he had died. When that happens we will all wonder who the next pope will be. Well, there are three qualifications needed for the office. A candidate must be conservative, conservative, and conservative. Since he packed the College of Cardinals with conservatives, we can safely assume that the next pope will be conservative and possibly even more so. Somewhere along the line I saw a list (the "preferiti" and I am not sure of the spelling of that word) or what we tend to call in the country, a short list of possbilities. On that list were cardinals from Africa, Mexico, and Vietnam so now we will wonder if John Paul II will be followed by another non-Italian.

Church Prepares Faithful for the End of the Pope's Reign

Pope Ready for the end