SAVE RENT CONTROL
NO ON 98
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Democrats are fed up with the eight years of George Bush, how can some Clinton supporters say they won't vote for Obama and some Obama supporters say they won't vote for Clinton. That is a recipe for disaster and another four to eight years of the same old same old. Come on people. Put away your petty differences and unite behind whoever the Democratic nominee is. Stop your bickering now. Think of the country first...please.

So Senator McCain believes that the war in Iraq can be won by 2013??? Give me a break! It has been going on for nearly eight years and he wants to extend it another five years??????? For that reason alone this man does not belong in the White House. If we are still in Irag in 2013 there won't be any America for the troops to come home to.

DUMB DUMB DUMB SURVIVOR

And I thought it was dumb of James to NOT play either of his hidden immunity idols last season when he had the chance and got voted out as a result. Now Erik tops that by giving away his immunity necklace in hopes that one of the other untrustworthy survivors is going to give him a pass. With only one more tribal council before the end of the current series that had to be the stupidest thing I have ever witnessed. I wonder what the women will have to say amongst themselves on Sunday night and whose throat will they cut the next time?

Now I wonder how much ice cream this "ice cream man" gives away.

#&%@$#*@# Oh, woe is me. If it isn't one thing it is another. Now I need to have a tooth pulled and either an implant or a less expensive bridge but my dentist claims that the extraction and implant will cost me $6000 while the extraction and bridge will cost $3000. My dental benefits book indicates that the extraction and bridge are covered but payment to the dentist will be far far lower than that figure. Where did my dentist come up with such an outrageous figure in the first place. Grrrrrr........

What we need in the USA is unlocked GSM phones (and networks) not more locked CDMA phones that can't be used outside the country. I like my phone from Verizon but their network and this phone is CDMA technology and is a pile of junk outside the country. When is the USA going to get on the world standard?

Extinct? Not hardly! It is stories like this one from South America which makes me wonder if an extinct volcano in Nevada could come back to life after thousands if not millions of years.

Could this be a sign of the times? In the seventies (disco era) one of the very popular dance hits was "More, More, More..." whereas now a very popular dance hit is "One Night Only". Hmm...just wondering.

Herb Caen loved cute firm names and I am sure he would have liked this one. A plumbing company called "Happy Pipes". The slogan on their truck reads: "Are your pipes happy?" (My reply to no one in particular: I certainly hope so.)

It is a beautiful warm sunny day in San Francisco but it was marred by a denizen of the street who was standing near this apartment as I went to the grocery store. He was acting a little (?) crazy and tried to speak to me. I ignored him as I do all such people. When I came back from the grocery store he was standing across the street acting the same way. Suddenly I found him shouting something, I wasn't sure what, but then just as quickly he was at my door step shouting at me in a very belligerent tone, "Hey, I'm talking to you". He then proceeded to hit me up for money to eat. I told him no and good-bye but he would not accept that so finally I told him to "get out of here" in a loud voice. Then he said "you don't have to get angry". Ha...if he thought that was being angry, well, he aint' seen nothin' yet.

This is a prime example of why I have come to despise this city so much. I thought that Newsom was going to something about these aggressive panhandlers and why are they suddenly up here on Nob Hill??????????

It is disgusting and sometime I want to put my foot where the sun don't shine but then I might be accused of assault & battery and then I would have to be deloused in an effort to get the vermin off of me. Thanks to such people as Ronald Reagan and Chris Daly, these people are taking over the streets. We need a president who is not afraid to deal with these problems.

Oh, this is interesting.

Not too many years ago there was a swarm of minor earthquakes near or under Peavine Mountain. Reno sits on the southeastern flank of that mountain which is an extinct volvano. I had the chance to go to the top one time when I was a teenager and saw the remanants of the cone. Two sides have been worn down by the elements over the centuries but there is a bowl and it is full of volcanic rock (obsidian). From Reno, however, one only sees a peak, no cone, due to centuries of erosion. There were several other outcroppings of the same rock lower down the mountain but new housing developments have covered those areas. At the time seismologists at the U. of N.-Reno said there was nothing to this swarm of quakes. Hmm...now they don't seem to know what is going on. Is Peavine coming back to life? By the way, Mogul, which is mentioned in the news article is southwest of Reno but certainly close enough to have interconnected lava tubes to the mountain.

Is this another example of incompetent work by the SFPD which necessitates a visit by French police to solve a crime?

This story really pisses me off. It is bad enough that the Bush administration can't get along with the rest of the world but now they threaten economic sanctions against Thailand, supposedly a friend of the USA. Well they won't be much longer at this rate and how can American tourists explain that what Washington does, or how they do it, is not necessarily the way other people feel about things. Can't these Dodo birds in Washington ever do anything right. It is always threaten, threaten, threaten, attack, attack, attack. This really makes me sick.

Earthquakes in Illinois? Of course, they can happen most anywhere and in unlikely places too.

The saddest part of the the earthquakes in Illinois during the past few days is that some supersitious people are going to start saying we are in the "end times". That these are signs from God at that the end of the world is new". Well, HOGWASH. This is just dangerous place to live. Even Boston lies atop of a very dangerous fault which has been locked for years but which, when it snaps open, will devastate that city. Ironically that city relaxed some of its earthquakes standards on new building construction a few years ago because there had not been any earthquakes in a long time. How shortsighted can you get?

Is someone sending e-mail from your address? Are you protected from a botnet or zombie? How do you keep your computer safe on the Internet? Well, read on...

Ask Leo: If people are getting spam from me, does that mean I have a bot infection?

My favorite letter to the editor appears in today's SF Examiner. This is probably the best this week if not all month or all year and I will quote verbatim here.
----------
"The latest flap over Barack Obama's statement regarding "small-town bitterness" was a jaw-dropper for me. I was born in one of those small eastern Pennsylvania towns and spent the first 22 years of my life there.

First, let me state that he is 100% right.

The shocker for me was that this was obviously a "rookie mistake". Any savvy politician knows that you don't tell Americans the truth, you pander and tell them only what they want to hear. You don't get elected in this country by speaking the truth. Americans can't handle the truth."
----------
And ain't that the truth! This week's so-called debate was really pathetic as there was nothing of substance in the questions and answers. This only served to confuse people and make it easier for John McCain to be elected and as another letter writer pointed out today, "He (McCain) is a warrior, and a warrior needs a war to prove himself. That's not what we need as a president".

Stop the world I want to get off. Or, to make things really interesting, I would be willing to volunteer for the first manned flight to Mars.

Funny Japanese TV Show

FREE TIBET

It was a smart move by city officials to move the Olympic torch relay to another section of town. I know there are many people who don't agree but it was the only prudent choice given the volatility of protesters especially in this city where things can get out hand very quickly. Running the Olympic flame through many cities around the world should be terminated anyway as it really serves no purpose.

FREE TIBET

Are the protests against the Olympic torch in London and Paris an example of what could happen in San Francisco this week? Of course those cities are much larger than this little berg on the west coast of the USA however there are some militant groups in the area so one never knows.

And by the way, I believe that the IOC made a serious mistake in awarding the summer games to Beijing. They have a mess on their hands now but you ain't seen nothin' yet. Once in Beijing it will be even a bigger mess with air polution contributing to that mess.

See these shocking dresses on Russian stars from Pravda.

For a lighter moment there is this skit from The Golden Girls...

Here is a very powerful and moving speech, actually from a TV drama "Boston Legal", but even though this is a fictional summation to a fictional jury, these words should be heard by everyone who cares about this country and the direction it is headed.

Now I know that San Francisco and Berkeley are not the only two cities in California to pass crazy laws. Even Berkeley's attempt to drown rats in the sewer system sounds good, if it would work.

Software piracy is a problem and a controversial one when you consider the people who can't afford what we in the USA and other developed countries can afford but I agree with this article: Ask Leo: Why can't the poor just pirate software?

Glad to see that the (Rev.) Fred Phelps is getting his comeuppance as protesters picket his church for a change.

Then there were two letters to the editor of the Chronicle this morning with some commen sense advice. One involves those who ride bicycles. The letter writer said in part: "...I have some advice my mom used to say before I took off in those non-helmet days, "Watch out for pedestrians and cars. They have the right of way". To this day I take that advice and I haven't come close to getting hit.

Then a Vietnam war veteran wants to know why Sen. John McCain is a war hero. McCain was only doing his duty and got caught in the process. He survived and while in prison he was tortured and abused but he acted courageously and selflessly (as did the North Vietnamese during years of bombing) but that neither atones for his wrongdoing nor makes him a war hero.

To me the use of the word "hero" in recent years has been overused ad nauseam and I think this is a good case in point. Also, would he be considered a hero if he were not running for president? Would the other poor blokes who got caught up in Johnson's misadventures in southeast Asia also be called heros?

It is springtime and soon millions, oops, make that thousands (hundreds?) of baseball fans will pour into AT&T Park for the first season of the Bondless San Francisco Giants.

On other matters I don't know whether I should laugh, cry, or scream concerning this latest twist to airport security screening. I guess you could chalk it up to one of the signs of the times but it sure wasn't pleasant for the passenger involved.

A few questions...

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we
know the batteries are getting dead? 

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when
they know there is not enough money? 

Why does someone believe you when you say there are
four billion stars, but check when you say the paint
is wet? 

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle? 

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal
injection? 

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? 

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but
ducks when you throw a revolver at him? 

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets? 

Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"? 

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?


Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you
use the bubbles are always white? 

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale? 

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator
with hopes that something new to eat will have
materialized? 

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times
with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it
up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum
one more chance? 

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end
on your first try? 

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light
fixtures? 

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our
ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing
so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't
all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid
idiot?" 

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something
that's falling off the table you always manage to
knock something else over? 

In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as
it was in summer when we complained about the heat? 

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

...Just thought I would ask...

D. B. Cooper's parachute? If so, where's the money?

I must say that our presidential candidates have some interesting relatives. Who woulda thought?

Texas - 1, Bush - 0

This story helps make my day.

Wanda Sykes on Gay Marriage...

WARNING: R rated due to language.

What's this? Political dirty tricks against Senator Barack Obama? I wouldn't doubt it. Assassination would probably seem too crude to some so if there were a way to bring a black man down before he even gets to the White House, why not try to use it. So sad, so sad...
------------------------
But wait, we now learn that all three major presidential candidates have suffered a passport database violation. I wonder if there has been other hanky-panky going on in the State Department. I know for a fact that upon my last three returns from Thailand local Homeland Security officials have poured over what they were seeing on their computer and requested additional information from me. One even went so far to ask if this had ever happened before which it had. His quiet reply was that my name "is not that common" and the implication was that they had me mixed up with someone else. Then this year when the same extra screening occurred and I mentioned to the guy going through my suitcase, he said they had no notation of anything liked that happening. Now I am beginning to think that the U.S. Department of State is out of control.

The last of the "big 3" is now gone. Big three sci-fi writers that is. Arthur C. Clarke is now dead. He was preceded into that great space station in the sky by Robert Heinlein who died in 1988 and Isaac Asimov who died in 1992. As a teenager I read as many of their books as I could but I must confess that I never saw the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. So I will correct soon that by renting the DVD. Not sure why I passed that by. Was it the hokey use of the first few minutes of Richard Stauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra? Not sure really. Or, maybe I did see it just can't remember the details. That seems to happen a lot lately. "Old timer's disease" (aka: Alzheimer's Disease)?

From a blogger in southern California...

"Dozens of seniors, elected officials, mobile home tenants and tenants’ rights advocates will picket outside a statewide meeting of large, wealthy apartment owners......... Inside, apartment owners will be scheming to pass a statewide initiative to abolish rent control and jack up rents for hundreds of thousands of renters to make tens of millions of dollars for themselves.

Wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners are collecting signatures to put a measure on the June ‘08 ballot for their own financial gain. These landlords want the public to believe that the so-called California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act (CPOFPA) is about eminent domain, but the measure is really a dishonest attempt to abolish rent control and other laws that protect renters. The CPOFPA would eliminate rent control and gut renter protection laws, and strip protections for mobile home owners from forced condo conversions."

The long campaign for the presidency has really gotten on my nerves and unfortunately I now believe that the Democrats are going to end up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I wish it weren't so but it is seeming more likely to me the John McCain will be the next president. I wish it weren't so especially if he choses Mitt Romney as his running mate.

LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES
from headlines in this morning's SF Chronicle
on SFGate.com

Two killed, one hurt in Concord shooting
Man shot and wounded by Union City police
18 year old man is shot and killed in Oakland
Rohnert Park police shoot and kill a person
3 shot, 1 fatally, in Mission District attack

Every morning I read similar headlines. What next? IED's on the streets of Bay Area cities?

Oh well, at least there have not been any mass shootings on any college campuses or in any shopping malls this week, at least not yet.

Well, this story is either very scary or very funny depending upon whether it is true or not.

This is funny. (Be sure to read to the end.)

So now the Gavinator and various others are suddenly concerned about clean sheets, soap, and toilet paper at homeless shelters. Well let me tell you that if you were to suddenly house these people in the swankiest hotel in town that the place would be in total chaos and a complete and utter mess within a few weeks. Many of those people do not know how to take care of things and they don't care either.
I wonder how long we will continue to subsidize those who can physically work and how long we will fail to institutionalize the mentally ill, especially those who refuse to take medications already prescribed for them in an out-patient clinic. This is truly the city that does not know how.

In today SF Examiner I read a letter from someone who claims that Prop 98 will not retroactively eliminate all rent controls, that it will only be phased in as units becomes available. At this time this sounds like the writer of that letter must be part of the YES on 98 group. If that were true then passage of this proposition would make it even more difficult for me to retain my rent controlled apartment which I have occupied for 15 years as the pressure to evict would be even greater if it were known that the new occupant would not be living in a rent controlled apartment.

As it is now, when a tenant moves out the rent can go up to market rate for the next tenant but the next tenant would be living in a rent controlled apartment for the duration of his or her occupancy.

One thing I most vehemently disagree with is the proposal from Chris "Raging Bull" Daly who wants Lenmar and others to sell at least half of their new units in the Hunter Point and other developments for below cost. With whom did that idiot study economics? With Vladimir Lenin?

Mayor Gavin Newsom for Governor????? Frankly, I think he would look better on the cover of GQ magazine than in the governor's office.

And by the way, while the government continues to tinker with Daylight Savings Time (starting it earlier) and states keep moving presidential primaries earlier and earlier and stores start the Christmas shopping season earlier and earlier each year, why the hell don't we just treat every day the same. Make everyday a holiday (you pick one of your favorites), never take down the related decorations. Just imagine, Christmas 365 days a year. Wow! St. Patrick's Day every day. Hmmm..

What is it about the people who enter City Hall to work in one capacity or another? First we have the Board of Supervisors rejecting a design that will cost over one million dollars, an outragious and obscene price but then we have Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier complaining that their rejection of the plan is a slap in the face of disabled people. Now we have Mayor Newsom urging businesses to sue the Board of Supervisors for their rejection of the plan. What a bunch of idiots! Why do they need $500 hammers to do such a simple job. Then we have those people who will whine that it is an historic structure and you must protect its appearance. This attitude is part of the problem and these people will never have solutions for what ails this city. Why is there so little common sense with people in City Hal and with their supporters? Sure, you can project the appearance of things inside City Hall but you don't need to spend a million dollars on a simple ramp to do that.

Oh, but forgot, that ramp is going to made of pure gold.

In March 1958 Mayor George Christopher was quoted as saying "City employees have no business living outside San Francisco. In the case of policemen, he said, they must be available around the clock for emergency duty. But the question of residence for the city's other 18,000 employees goes deeper than that, he said. "We're becoming a city where people work, not where they live. We can't sustain this city on people who lunch here." The mayor also said a city employee's loyalty would be split if he were to live in another city.

Well, I certainly agree with that and feel that such laws should still be in effect in one form or another. This is a city, not of working people, but of visiting people, and that needs to change. We need people living here, paying taxes here and not taking the money and running off to some other city to spend it.

A-ha...there may be no water on the surface of Mars after all. But what about the polar ice caps?

I need a drink!

This week I decided to play catch up on the 2007 movies I have not seen and which won one or more Oscars on Sunday. Oh lordy, did I do a number on myself with that decision. On Tuesday I saw the excellent acting of Javier Bardem in "No Country of Old Men" but otherwise did not enjoy that extremely violent movie. Yesterday was a relief and a break as I watched one of my favorite actors George Clooney in "Michael Clayton". The ending of that was a hoot. Today I saw Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will be Blood". He was excellent and the movie was excellent but wow, did it ever drag me through the ringer? "No Country..." should not have won the Oscar for best film..."There Will be Blood" should have. At least Lewis won the Oscar of best actor. Now, however, I need a drink. Ha!

"...whenever any Form of Govenment becomes destructive...
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government..."

Extracted from the United States
Declaration of Independence
July 4, 1776

Ralph Nader claims to be against big business and "business as usual", etc., but his candidacy this year will only help John McCain get elected as it did George W. Bush in 2000. This guy is complete friggin' idiot.

From one news source I keep seeing the headline "I didn't have sex with that woman". Bill Clinton? No, in this case it is John McCain. Ah, very interesting, as history seems to repeat itself. McCain seems to be rather low key these days on TV so despite his primary wins I wonder if he is running out of steam pesonally. This has been an interesting election year and promises to be even more interesting before year is out.

When I read news stories like this one I feel like we should have bombed them out of existence years ago. Yeah, I know that is extreme and would only hurt the innocent but these turds creating malware and spyware need to be strung up and caned or whipped or whatever. How about some waterboarding?

I wholeheartedly concur with the person who expressed these thoughts in a local newspaper...
------------------------

"Lately, the candidates' debates have been about who's using whose words. Can there be ownership of the English language? Most of us use words everyday. Are we using someone else's words? I guess at the end of the day, when candidates can't think of anything to pick on their opponent about, they'll come up with the most trite and inane things; who's using whose words.

Maybe I should look into copyrighting prepositions."

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

San Francisco's newest high rise on Rincon Hill next to the Bay Bridge dominates the skyline as it did on this bright clear day.

During today's walk I discovered a lot of signs on the doors of small business about being closed tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 18th, President's Day. What? This has been a minor holiday for years with government offices and banks being closed but little else. Did King George decree it otherwise in 2008?

As I was reading the newspaper this morning several items started to cause my blood pressure to go up a bit but then I found this wonderful letter to the editor which calmed me down. It is good to know that some people have their heads on straight as they say.
---------------------------------

Editor - As a Muslim, learning of the republication of the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad made my heart bleed.

Presenting hurtful speech under the guise of freedom is shameful, but the caricatures publishers do have a point - who do these Muslims think they are? Since when do Muslims, or any party, have the authority to compel others to conform to their standards?

Did the Christians not peacefully protest the hurtful and ill-mannered "Piss Christ" and Ecce Homo exhibits? And when Christ's honor was being maligned, where were these Muslims?

Instead of observing decorum, the teddy bear and "The Satanic Verses" incidents incited madness amongst these same Muslims. Have they forgotten Prophet Muhammad not only forgave, but lead the funeral prayer of Abdullah Ubay bin Salul, the same man who spread the cruel and horrid lie that Prophet Muhammad's wife had committed adultery?

Indeed, who do these Muslims think they are?

ANEES AHMAD Waterloo, N.Y.

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

There are some very creative TV commercials in Thailand and some are rather funny. This one, to me, is amongst the funniest:

This morning a friend helped m turn over the box springs of my bed. An earlier inspection of the mattress found no bugs (see below) and todays inspection was also negative however I did find a very small amount of live and dead bugs on the bottom of the box springs. They were very tiny and I tried to squish as many as I could. There weren't that many but one fell on the floor and I was not sure at the point if it was alive or dead. I hope dead. Anyway, the infestation of the bed appears to be minimal at this time. Now I must get to work to stem the invasion. I also hope that this is the only place they are residing.

Just where did these little buggers come from anyway??? (no pun intended) I have never had such a problem in my life prior to this.

Oh, rats! At least that is what Harrison Ford said in a movie a number of years ago. In my case it would be, "Oh bugs!". Since Christmas I seem to have been invaded from where I know not. I do know that I cannot find the nesting place of these critters that only come out at night and I know that if I move from my regular bed to the sofabed which is only about ten feet away, I do not get bit. Also, apartment # 302 is being worked on by the maintenance crew and they have been there all week making a lot of strange noises that I am not familiar with. As vacancies occur in this building I do know that they do considerable remodeling of vacant units but this week the sounds I am hearing seem to go above and beyond the usual sounds of remodeling. Does the occupant of 302, or did the occupant of that unit have a bed bug problem which has now spread to my unit and possibly beyond??? How do I deal with this without panicking anyone? If Tanya, the resident manager were more readily available I could ask her what is going on upstairs but I seldom see her as she seems to have become a semi-recluse since Don died a few years ago. What to do, what to do, WTD?????

By the way, in Thailand in January it was mosquitoes that liked me. Now I seem to be host to a non-flying brand of pest. Grrrrrrr.......

Oh where oh where is our presidential election going? Not sure but I will venture a guess that it will be McCain/Huckabee vs. Clinton/Obama (or Obama/Clinton) in November. I can't really see any other names emerging as being VP candidates at this time. Let's face it, Democrats, of which I am one, seem to be evenly divided between Clinton and Obama and on the Republican side Huckabee's conservatism fills in a few holes in McCain's political philosophy.

Q. How does a slut feel?
A. Whore-a-ble.

BTW, if we dump anti-freeze down the drains, why are we surprised that the poles are melting?

I don't doubt this in the least as I have already experienced the warmer than normal temperatures in Thailand. Glad to see that others are blaming global warming for this situation. I used to like Thailand in the winter (December and January) but if these hotter temperatures are going to be the norm, I may never return.

Having rested sufficiently from my vacation as well as the long flights from Bangkok to Taipei to SFO, I feel I am ready to resume a normal life, whatever that is. Anyway, the vacation trip was excellent as usual but this time the emphasis was on my friends in Pattaya and Sakon Nakhon instead of sightseeing. There was that but socializing was the main focus of things this time around.

The vacation started with one week in Pattaya where I spent considerable time with my friend there. From there I moved on to Bangkok where I met up with a friend from Sakon Nakhon which is in Isan territory in northeast Thailand. After several nights in Bangkok we took a daytime train (2nd class coach) up to Udon Thani (also in northeast Thailand) where we spent several days. From there we moved over to Sakon Nakhon for two days/one night and his house and we also took a day trip via bus up to Nong Khai where we ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant over looking the Mekong River from the Thai side of the border. After our time in this area we returned to Bangkok via first class sleeper on the night train for one more week before we each returned to our respective homes. BUT, before doing that we also took a local train up to Ayuttaya, the ancient capital. We had both been there previously but it had been several years for both of us.

I was not feeling one hundred percent when I left SFO and while nothing serious occurred, a persistent cough dogged me all the way and still does. I tend to have a bronchial condition in the winter here which is usually only relieved by warmer and dry weather. Sure had the warmer weather in Thailand but not dry weather as the humidity is always higher there than here. This time it seemed that their summer weather pattern had never really left in late 2007 or else was getting an early start in 2008 as this was the hottest and most humid January I have ever spent there. Also, it rained at Pattaya one day (this is supposed to be the dry season) and we had some heavy rain in Bangkok before I left the country.

Incidentally, for you fellow train buffs, the "first class" sleeper equipment was manufactured by Hyundai of Korea in 1996. Some lack of maintenance had it looking more like something much older. As for the diesel rail car coaches on the second class train to Ayuttaya, they were manufactured by Hitachi in 1983 after a design by the Budd Rail Car Company in the U.S. from the fifties. Biggest difference was that each units diesel engine was mounted underneath the carriage instead of at rooftop. Those rail cars has have definitely seen better days so I wonder when Thai National Railways will purchase new equipment. Their train system seems to be fairly efficient, all things considered, and everything is very well organized at Bangkok's main terminal, Hua Lumphong, where there is now direct access to the subway so one does not have to cross six lanes of traffic at surface level. Taxi and bus queues were all very efficient and busy places.

While Bangkok's subway and Sky Train systems are modern and efficient, their city bus system leaves everything to be desired. This was my first time on city buses as I rode the buses several times with my friend as he wanted to save a little money (they ARE cheaper than the subway and Sky Train) but are subject to much delay due to the city's horrendous traffic jams. Some buses are not air conditioned so one must "eat" the fumes from other cars and buses and when sitting in traffic that is no fun at all. As for the buses themselves, they need replacing, period!

Bangkok is definitely a city of contrasts as it moves into the modern era. World class shopping malls abound where you can find everything you would want from Gucci to Armani to you-name-it. Siam Paragon is the biggest and newest and sits next to the Siam Skytrain station, a major transfer point for the system's two lines. By the way, the line to Saphan Taksin Station is being extended across the Chao Praya River and the Sukhimvit line is also being extended. There is also a new Skytrain line under construction from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport which will have connections with the subway as well as one of the current Skytrain lines. These things really stand in stark contrast to the older buildings and the old ways especially the myriad sidewalk food vendors all over the city. Some sections of Silom and Surawong Roads are obstacles courses because of all of it. I write this not to complain. This is just an observation. What I do complain about is tourists who suddenly stop to look at something and act as if they were the only persons on the street thereby making it difficult for other people to squeeze by in the very narrow confines of the remaining spaces available to walk.

I did not get to Chiang Mai ("The Rose of the North") this time, much to my regret. That city has only about 150,000 residents and is a much quieter and less frantic city than Bangkok is with its 5,000,000 plus population. Oh well, next time maybe.

Returning after three weeks I must now deal with all sorts of things including a huge stack of mail plus filing income tax returns, etc., etc. Oh well, back to the real world as they say.

OK, I am ready. I got things done in record time this time so I am now ready to go to the airport a full seven hours ahead of time. Yippee...of course, having a checklist helps but even with that, I can be rather disorganized until the last moment. That was not the case this time. So I am outa here for a three week vacation. See ya...

Huckabee vs. Obama? Well, if it works out that way that will make it easy for me in November as I would not want the right wing huckster Huckabee as president. I have to consider him a country bumpkin who is not presidential material.

These caucuses in Iowa are so meaningless as are the various state primaries. Yes, I suppose they are supposed to tell party big whigs who the people really like so that they can make the right decision when it comes to nominating a candidate at the national conventions in August but to me, the whole election system seems broken. Why can't we just have a national primary on one date, and then a direct vote of the people on another time to determine who the president will be. This electoral college crap is for the birds. What we really need is a parliamentary system that is really more representative of the political wishes of the people so that parties other than the two major parties get their fair share of seats in Congress. About the only way that can happen now is for a Democrat or Republican to switch parties after they are elected.

Happy New Year
Best Wishes for 2008
and always

Well, I gave you a sad song below so how about something which sounds a little more upbeat. I still wish I knew what the words were saying.

Happy New Year...oops, wait a minute...I am a day early. Let me try this again tomorrow...lol

I wish I knew the Thail language so I would know what is being sung about here. As is, it is a very beautiful sounding song.

This incident at the SF Zoo with the tiger mauling three people and killing one of them continues to bother me. This is so unusual that I cannot help think that the guys were taunting the tiger in some fashion. No matter what the depth of the moat or the horizontal distance across the moat, she must have been every angered by something one of the guys did in order to muster up enough energy and force to made that leap out of her space and onto the grounds. It is a sad and regretable incident but one which could be made worse if the parents of that numbskull (the one who died) decide to sue the zoo.

Anyway, here we are in the final weekend of 2007 and New Year's Eve approaches. Looks like it will be a dry evening so celebrations will not get rained on. We might freeze our asses off that night but what the heck, with enough alcohol we may not feel the cold that much anyay. Ha!

If you do drive, however, please leave the driving to someone else.

After a very chilly day in San Francisco, I am finally warming up. Of course, it hasn't been easy as I had to crank up the main heater to 70 degrees and turn on a portable heater to 7 (10 is high setting). Now I am feeling better but while I was downtown today I was miserable and I froze my buns off. Even the weather person on TV tonight indicated that it was very cold for the date. I think it was in the mid-forties and there was a breeze so the wind chill factor was too much.

Now I learn that while New Year's Eve will be dry, there are some major storms headed this way which are currently scheduled to arrive next weekend. Oh great...how will they effect my departure from SFO to Taipei. Will that 12:15 AM flight be able to take off in the rain? I hope so as I will have people waiting for me in Bangkok to take me to Pattaya. At this rate I might start singing "Oh the weather outside is frightful...." (again). Yuck!

Did you survive Christmas? Ha! I had no trouble with shopping before Christmas but when I went down to Macy's this morning to buy something for a friend in Thailand, I had to wait and wait and wait. No, there were not that many people in line but there were not enough clerks and those that were working were having to deal with people returning items or exchanging things. At one cash register one clerk was tied up by a customer who was paying off (with cash) several accounts. Yep, that's right. He had several statement sheets for several accounts and the clerk kept asking him how much he wanted to pay on each account. Sort of reminded me of the old days of "lay-away" plans. Then when I finished shopping I went to Boudin's in the food court at Macy's only to get stuck in another line behind people who did not know what they wanted. Grrr....

Anyway, I finished my post-Christmas shopping and got home without too much hassle. Now I am ready to go on vacation to Thailand in a few weeks. With this chilly weather we are having in San Francisco right now, that will be very welcome. Right now it is 49F/10C at 2:20 PM here where as the high temperatures in Pattaya these days are around 91F/32C which will be very welcome as I lounge on a deck check under an umbrella on Jomtien(Dong Tan) Beach. Ah, thoughts of just sitting there in the shade with a slight breeze off the Gulf of Thailand, food vendors coming around with various things of interest, the "scenery", etc., etc., really warms me up with warm fuzzies even whilw trying to stay warm here at home. Before I go however, there is New Year's Eve at my favorite club down the street where I like to stay in touch with many of my friends.

The only thing I don't like about travel is the preparation and the getting there. I sort of have packing down to a routine but I still get nervous and fear that I will forget something. No, this will not be like to going to the middle of the Sahara Desert where I would have to be self-sustaining for three weeks but still, I could forget something of a personal nature. I do, however, have a check-list but I am not sure if I have remembered to put everything onto that list that should be there. Ha! Anyway, in Thailand there is a 7-Eleven on practically every corner and a Starbucks on every other corner so I am will not be too far from the creature comforts of home.
What I can't do anything about however is the thirteen hours flying time from San Francisco to Taipei. That is where I change planes. It is another two hours or so from there down to Bangkok (that includes another change in time zones). By that time, however, I am all hyped up and ready to hit the beach running. LOL

So now I will rest up for the final big bash of the year here in SF and then will get ready for my flights.

Cheers...

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

My, my, my...a newly discovered asteroid. What if this were aiming for Earth and not Mars. Would the scientific community be embarrassed by their oversight or error in this matter? How many people would be panicking at this time? Can you imagine a direct hit on New York City or London or some other city? Wow!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..."

Well, at least it is not snowing in San Francisco but it is fairly chilly especially in the mornings. As I write this it is only 42F at 10:20 AM in the city and might reach the mid-fifties this afternoon. No rain in the forecast for now. But now it is party season. In fact, I have canceled one event on my calendar for tonight as I can't do it two nights in a row (No, not THAT.) anymore. lol Too much eating and drinking during this holiday time but what the heck, it only comes once a year. Right? So what's on your schedule for the holidays?

Christmas in San Francisco

Paragraph 10, section E of my apartment lease states: Tenant shall not make or permit any noise which will disturb other tenants. Tenant is responsible for insuring that disturbing noises are not caused by Tenant's family or guests. When the nut case moved in next door in apartment # 202 and I tried to talk to him about his excessively loud music, he replied that he could do what he pleased as long as it was not late at night. I reminded him about this section of the lease and he said he new nothing about that and told me to "buzz off" or words to that effect.

The guy is basket case. Strange noises in addition to the loud music continue to exists. Sometimes it sounds like a war is going on in that apartment and the explosions and other loud noises cause the wall to vibrate. I cannot talk with him. He is totally unreasonable. What can I do?

I am trying to play it cool during the holiday season and until I return from vacation at the end of January but I am afraid my patience will wear out in February if he continues to do as he has been recently.

I can only hope that he suddenly decides to move or is otherwise evicted during the next six weeks. If not, February 2008 could be very unpleasant here.

And one final question...isn't there any sort of ordinance in San Francisco about noisy neighbors and one that has some teeth in it?????????

What is it about the Christmas song "The Little Drummer Boy" that drives so many people up the wall. Am I the only one who likes it anymore? Even this morning Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral mentioned in his sermon that if he hears it one more time he might be driven to violence. (laugher) The thing that drives me up the wall these days is a commercial on TV that shows a large gathering of family and friends for Christmas and the song starts "Are you having any fun...are you getting any lovin'...". The commercial is a total failure because I cannot remember what is being touted here and the song drives me up the wall to boot. Another thing I dislike very much is religious music of Christmas being turned into rock music or jazz or soul music and sung by unqualified singers. That is as bad as turning the National Anthem at sporting events into some sort of rock number, something people in other countries would never think of doing to their respective National Anthems. In fact, in Thailand one might lose their freedom or life for doing so. Maybe we need similar penalties here???

The planet Mars in an image courtesy of NASA. On spring days on Mars, powerful geysers sometimes spew carbon dioxide 'steam' and dust to great heights, a phenomenon unlike anything ever seen on earth, scientists said on Tuesday.

NASA has really gotten some great images of the planets in recent years. This is one of my favorites.

What's this, an e-mail from Walgreens on Saturday Dec. 8th for a seven hour sale on Friday Nov. 23rd? Uh, hello, is there anyone home there???

San Franciscan's Behaving Badly

This excellent letter to the editor caught my eye this morning and I feel should be read by everyone.

"Editor - It's amazing to me that when something goes wrong in this town, it's always the fault of the government. I'm no fan of Mayor Newsom, and our supervisors don't inspire much respect, either. However, whether it's litter on our streets or the murder rate, it's not the fault of our leaders as much as it is our people. Our reputation for tolerance is sorely abused. Worse, too many of those who come here think they can engage in behavior that wouldn't be acceptable in most civilized settings, and that we should put up with it. Compounding this selfishness is an inability of people here to stand up to bad behavior. I once watched two kids deface a bus, with not one other adult willing to accost them. On the Muni Metro, I saw a man who was about to get off put his cup behind the seat. I politely suggested that he take it with him, and not only did he let loose a stream of vulgarity, but two other folks (not with him) lit into me as well! Decent people who stand by and do nothing in the face of such behavior aren't much better than the offenders. When a society makes excuses for, and defends, bad behavior, it is not a big jump to the point where arguments are ended with bullets and knives.

We only get the government we deserve, and in a selfish, childish society like ours we really can't expect any better than what we have.

PAUL TOMINAC San Francisco"

Personal comment in conclusion: It is this sort of thing that really discourages and depresses me at times and make me feel like this planet is ready for a complete re-do. That is, a huge asteroid should crash into the planet and wipe out the human race as it did the dinosaurs millions of years ago and let the planet start all over again. I cannot see the human doing anything to make it better.

If a Clinton administration is going to be some sort of a faith based administration pandering to the religious right then there is no way I could vote for her or any other candidate doing so. Those people have already caused enough damage to this country and to the world and I for one could not tolerate another four or eight years of such bull----. If such a person were elected then I would have to consider seeking sanctuary in another country, perhaps Australia, where they finally got their head on straight and got rid of John Howard. The most dangerous candidate now running however, is Mitt Romney, whom a good friend in Massachusetts sometimes referred to as a fascist and given the hard line stance of the LDS Church, I am not surprised.

My candidate at this time is Rudolph Guliani. He has his detractors to be sure but folks, remember, we are electing a president, not a saint.

QUESTION: What do you call people who decorate Christmas trees?
ANSWER: Branch managers.

[clunk]

Very good piece here by David Aldridge of the Philadelphia Inquirer concerning the homicide rate in the black community.

Just finished reading "American Theocracy" by Kevin Phillips concerning the peril and politics of radical religion, oil, and borrowed money in the 21st Century. It is an interesting read and one I think that every concerned American should take up. Now I am starting Madeleine Albright's "The Mighty and the Almighty", Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. This too promises to be very informative. "This is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of American foreign policy. (Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, author of "What's Right with Islam is What's Right with America").

Strange experiences tonight on at least two occasions when I felt like I was outside my body but not far away. Just sort of "beside myself" but still observing for a brief period what was going on. I wonder what WAS going on? Am I losing it or is something else going on?

Riots like these in the Paris region of France anger and sadden me. Paris is such a nice city as is most of the country and while this particular suburb is not one tourists would go to, these riots could spread as they did last year when some rioting occurred at Place d'Italie which is only a short distance from the hotel where I have stayed. It angers me that outsiders could be involved so I hope the local authorities are successful in containing the angry mobs and weeding out the agitators.

I would say that President Sarkozy has got to go. There is too much turmoil under his proposed economic reforms. Rail strikes lasting longer than one or two days are unheard of in modern France and now the country is grinding to a halt with the open ended transport strike and other job actions around the country. Will France survive? I certainly hope so but right now things appear rather bleak from this side of the Atlantic.

"Out damn spot". In this case the spot is Comcast with their less than stellar Internet service and their nearly non-existent customer service. The last time I called them about a problem they all but blamed me for the problem. Also, I have not received any replies to two letters to them regarding messages which foreign correspondents have tried to send to me but which were subsequently bounced back to the respective senders. My correspondents sent me the error codes which I forwarded to Comcast but to no avail. These bounced messages involve the fact that my IP address is blacklisted by some mail servers for suspected spam. Nothing could be further from the truth as I am not a purveyor of spam.So now I am ready to pull the plug on their Internet service here once I can get DSL from another vendor up and operating.

So buyers beware. COMCAST sucks! :-(

This is certainly a case of the the pot calling the kettle black. Hugo Chavez is a complete idiot.

If merchants have less than hoped for sales this Christmas they deserve what they get. Here it is only nine days into November and every other ad on radio and TV is a Christmas commercial. The greed of those people knows no bounds. Whatever happened to the days when the Christmas shopping season started the day after Thanksgiving. Of course you can do Christmas shopping any day any month but the B.S. of all the Christmas advertising is too much. Then here in San Francisco "light rock" KOIT-FM plays Christmas schmaltz round-the-clock day after day, week after week. It makes me puke.

What's with this weather this week? It has been so foggy and cold. In fact, it was so foggy yesterday that a container ship ran into the Bay Bridge. Now we ALL know how hard it is to see that bridge. Ha! Was the pilot on a cell phone? Was the radar not working? Did the pilot fail sewing 101A (the threading the needle part)?

Well, my stock in Rudolph Giuliani just went from 100 to zero with the announcement that Pat Robertson is backing him. As the Republican front runner, why the hell should he agree to link up with that right wing nut case? If the party nominates them as a ticket they wouldn't get my vote. I was prepared to support Giuliani but teamed with a more reasonable running mate, not a religious Darth Vader.

Today is election day in the City and Country of San Francisco. Well, that is a typo (country) but sometimes I think it fits but in a good way however today's municipal election is a joke with Mayor Newsom running unopposed by any serious candidate and a bunch of poorly written ballot propositions that won't do what they are supposed to and even if passed, stand a good chance of being challenged in court. If my polling place were not just around the corner I wouldn't even bother to vote as it is really an exercise in futility.

I love this letter to the editor from Bob Sills of Castro Valley: Theodore Roosevelt gave us the Square Deal, Franklin Roosevelt the New Deal, and Harry Truman the Fair Deal. George W. Bush's presidency should be remembered in history as the Ordeal.

This amusing story could also be labeled LANGUAGE PROBLEMS.

Another beautiful day in San Francisco although a little bit on the warm side (mid-seventies I think)...too warm for some...but I found the day delightful anyway. It is ironic however that only last week I hauled my electric blanket out of the closet and put away a fan. Now I need the fan and not the electric blanket. We shouldn't compain however as those in the southern part of the state are dealing with one of the worst wild fires in memory with about 2000 structures burned so far and at this time there is not end in sight. Now 500,000 people have had to evacuate and 7000 firefighters are on the fire lines and just heard that the wind is expected to increase later tonight. We certainly could wake up to even more bad news in the morning. At least this time Homeland Security got it right and did not repeat the fiasco of New Orleans.

This was a lazy day for me although a walk downtown was refreshing. After that and lunch at One Market Plaza I returned home, or almost, and tried to sit in Huntington Park and read a book but I was so sleepy at that point that I could hardly keep my eyes open. As as a result I gave up on that and went home, layed down, and went to sleep rather quickly. I guess the warm weather was effecting me. There is a slight cooling trend in the forecast but nothing drastic for the next few days anyway.

We have a ridiculous city election coming up soon in which Mayor Newsom has no significant challengers. So why bother to vote?!?!? As for the rest of the short ballot, it is all rubbish.

I have heard that "Hoover sucks". Now, apparently Sioux City, Iowa does too.

I am really getting a little tired of Comcast and their service failures. About a year or two ago we lost Internet service on several days. Now, twice during the past week, there has been no e-mail service for outbound messages via the smtp server. They need to fix their problems or reduce my monthly rate and then, while on the service call, they have the nerve to offer me telephone service (land line) to replace the VERY RELIABLE service I have through AT&T. Grrr.....

What is the matter with companies that allow personal information to be stored on easily stolen lap top computers? That information should be on fully encrypted main frame computer systems but now some idiot at Home Depot has lost valuable personal information due to a stolen lap top computer.

Well, I guess there is more to worry about in this life such as the increasingly rapid melting of the polar ice cap. Once gone, not only will ocean levels be higher but sunlight will not be reflected back into space which will result in warmer oceans and this could alter oceans currents. That would have drastic effect on the world's weather patterns.

Then here in the Bay Area, the very dangerous Hayward fault which causes significant earthquakes about every 140 years is now one year or less away from that 140 year mark. During the past year it has been very active with a lot of small quakes in the Oakland/Piedmont area, the one area not significantly effected by the 1868 quake which occurred on the southern end of the fault.

Then we have the world political climate deteriorating at a worrysome level with Iran, China, and Russia warning friends and enemies about various matters.

U.S. politics is becoming chaotic with each state trying to hold their 2008 presidential primaries before the other states. That is ridiculous. This is the United States and we elect one president, not fifty, so why can't all states hold their primaries on the same day as they hold the general election on the same day?

For those who complain about the weather on earth, perhaps they should consider the weather on Titan, one of Saturn's moons where you will need an umbrella at all times and a very big one at that. :-D

I sure am glad to see an American Army Officer laying it on the line with his assessment of the disaster in Iraq.

This was omitted from yesterday's blog. The problems of the San Francisco Municipal Railway have been much in the news recently especially concerning late buses and trains. Yes, there are quite possibly internal administrative problems but the problem of slow buses is another matter. As anyone who drives knows, you can not make much headway if you have to stop at every corner for a red light. Well, the Muni, in a number of cases, has bus stops at every corner. In fact, in my neighborhood there are at least two instances where the #27 bus makes two stops in the SAME block. That is ridiculous! Another problem is heavy traffic downtown. There are too many vehicles on the streets for anything to move efficiently. Even in the early 20th Century the officials in New York City recognized that problem and began building subway lines all over the place. In fact, in 1931 there was a proposal, prepared in San Francisco by City Engineer M. M. O'Shaughnessy for several rapid transit lines in the city: 1 - Market Street, 2 - O'Farrell-Geary, 3 - McAllister, 4 - Mission-Capp, 5 - Van Ness-Potrero, 6 Kearny-Third St. - 7 - Sunset Route, and 8 - Seventeenth St. Route. With some modifications, there was also the Ridgway-Brahdy rapid transit report of 1935 for rail subway and elevated routes. These are illustrated in Anthony Perles' excellent book "The People's Railway". So who dropped the ball in this every important matter? Now we are paying the penalty of not following through and building some of those lines. Ironically, the Third Street route has now been built, or at least part of it. Phase two must be completed to Chinatown and then phase three on out to the Fisherman's Wharf area must be implemented as well. Since building subways in the 21st Century is such an expensive task we need to find some other way to lessen downtown traffic and should consider banning private autos and trucks from certain streets during the commute hours. If Market Street east of Van Ness Avenue, for instance were car free from 7 AM to 9 AM and 4:30 to 6:30 PM Monday through Friday this would go a long way towards speeding up Muni buses. The same applies to Sacramento and Clay Streets east of Powell Streets. Unfortunately Van Ness Avneue is part of U.S. 101 so that can not be touched but SOMETHING needs to be done. How about our own version of Boston's "Big Dig"???? :-( Well, then, maybe not, but San Francisco officials need to bite the bullet and take some sort of action on this matter.

Recently a friend asked why he had not seen any letters to the editor from me recently. I hope this answers the question.

Since moving to San Francisco about thirty years ago, I have written a number of letters to the editor of the Chronicle and have had a fairly good success rate at having them printed. Things change however and now I spend most of my time raving and ranting via this blog page or more recently, by posting comments in the comments section of www.sfgate.com under articles of interest. If there is really something that moves me in the news I will send a letter to one of the local newspapers but I am finding that my success rate has dropped to nearly zero recently. Is my writing getting worse or are the editorial staffs aware of this blog page and reluctant to give me another venue for my opinions? Who knows. It doesn't really matter to me anyway. I will send e-mails to members of the Board of Stuporvisors if I am really ticked off by their actions but even there I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall.

As for the bottled water v. tap water controversy, I have found that using a filtering system such as Brita solves both problems. I don't have the expense of continually buying bottled water and the Brita filters take care of any pests that might have inadvertently gotten into the system.

Now, about Halloween in the Castro. When I moved to this city most of the (non-leather) gay bars were located on Polk Street and that was where the Halloween celebration was held. At first it was friendly and manageable but eventually it turned into a rowdy mob. There were just scores of young people roaming up and down the street (none in costume either) and there was a lot of vandalism in its final years in the late seventies. It was eventually canceled as there was too much damage to local merchants' shops and by that time gay bars has started the migration to Castro Street anyway. So history repeats itself in the Castro. My own idea would be to hold several large parties indoors at venues such as the Civic Auditorium and the Convention Center where people could be controlled. There would be an admission charge based on age and whether one was in costume or not and security would be plentiful so outsiders could not just wander in to cause trouble.

Then we have the problem of homeless shelters in this city...not enough beds and dangerous conditions. Well, folks, we can trace this back to the time of Governor Reagan when he decided to close many of the state's mental institutions because they were not doing their job. He did not even try to correct the problems but instead threw out the baby with the dirty bath water. Then, as president he made thing even worse by cutting public health funds. Now most of these people wandering the streets are still the crazies of this world and they are the ones causing the dangerous conditions in these shelters. They do not want to live by anyones rules except their own. These people should not be sleeping in dorm like conditions which is what these shelters provide. They need to be locked up in secure single occupancy rooms. There are people who would like to get back on their feet and live a normal life but they can't due to the reasons I mentioned above.

Well, I see that the U.S. Marines want out of Iraq and desire to help out in Afghanistan. Ha, fat chance that will happen with the Bush burning in the White House.

Agh...another gin & tonic bartender...

What is it with some people who have no respect for their neighbors and who play their stereo system so friggin loud that it could "wake the dead"? The s.o.b. in apartment 202 next to me is one such turd. I have tried talking with him in the past but his attitude is that he can do what he wants if it is not late at night. Well, I will give him that. That would definitely be worse but still, if he needs his junk music (??) that loud, why the hell can't he use earphones so no one else would be bombarded by his "boom box" aided and abetted by the wall which helps to amplify the bass. I know if I were manager that guy would be evicted for violation of his lease and their IS a paragraph concerning noise and other sounds which can effect other tenants. I reminded him of that one time and he denied having such a lease or paragraph concerning the situation. He really is a nut asI hear him screaming at times as if someone were torturing him, or, maybe he indulges in some sort of S&M games and cannot stand the pain.

The other problem is that the younger generation generally does not give a shit about others. They are very ill mannered and can only think of themselves. Their parents failed if they even tried. I am not ready for an old folks home but my god, can't people respect their neighbors.

OK, I have had my rant for today. Fortunately I will be going out in about another hour and will be able to get away from the booming bass for a couple of hours. Right now it is giving me a headache.