charismatic megafauna

probably not worth titling

2007-07-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

In this post I will give you the best advice of your life.

1) Order a bag of partially baked baguettes from your favorite local bakery.

2) Take them home and put them in the freezer.

3) Every morning, finish baking a baguette in your oven.

What could possibly be better than warm, amazing bread in the morning?

In the world of things less important than baguettes, apparently we now have a reason* to fight global climate change.

*assuming my reaction to poison ivy is similar to my reaction to poison oak...which ain't pretty.

2007-07-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

Getting tagged has forced me to come back to the blogosphere. You can blame the back of the hill.

Sigh.

Meme:
List what you and your significant other did before a certain time in the morning on your own blog.

I begrudgingly woke up at 8, very confused due to furniture rearrangement the night before, and being in my own bed for the first time for 5 days! By some miracle, I managed to get my robe on, feed the obnoxious cat (Leo's cute, but not so much when all I want is sleep), and hop in the shower. By an even greater miracle, I was able to turn on the water and apply shampoo, conditioner, and soap, hopefully to the correct parts of the body in the correct order, but one must never expect too much out of a person before 9 am. I seem to smell allright and my hair is still in, so I couldn't have screwed up too badly. I got out, dried off, and dressed. Then came the part of my morning that I always hope to fix, but never get to...wanting coffee and food but being too late. So instead, in my dangerous non-caffeinated state, I hopped on my bike for my ten minute commute, got to work, clocked in, put on an apron, and dashed to the espresso machine. And so the ungodly hour of nine came, and I was somehow expected to be a productive member of the workforce.

As for the SO, he's accross the world right now, so I can't say for certain, but he claims to actually be getting up at 7 am. I don't believe it, so I'm waiting for confirmation. But normally his routine is comprised of rolling over, mumbling when woken up, and going back to sleep. I sure do pick 'em well.

he's a bit nutty, but anyone's better than Clinton!

2007-05-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

The only major party candidate who I would consider voting for is Mike Gravel...polls are looking like I don't have to worry about voting for a largely pro-war, corporate sponsored political party's candidate. However, I've got to share these gems:

Apparently the former senator shares my disgust for his party:

Most reasonable people will disagree with our current homophobic policies regarding gays serving in the military. Gravel goes a bit further...

not the Ahmadinejacket!

2007-04-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Pesach started off well, as always. I'm sure flying frogs and a slight excess of alcohol (if there is such a thing) helped. However, as the days dragged on, I quickly became sick of a diet of fruits, veggies, eggs, and nuts. My body also seemed to need more...after about 30 flat, easy miles of bicycling on Sunday, I became very fatigued and wondered why, when normally that sort of ride should pose no issue...and I realized that the two apples, a banana, infant sized portion of mashed potatoes, cup of coffee and glass of milk probably wasn't the heartiest diet. It is at moments like that when we consider the important things, the reasons behind why we do what we do. For some, it is easily explained by a strong faith in God (how easy it must be). For others, like myself, of little to no faith, it's got something to do with culture, or tradition, or identity, or something like that...or maybe it's just massochism.

Anyway, the point is, we've all got our "big stuff" to think about. It seems to come out at times of great stress, and it happens on many levels...the pesonal, the community, the political, etc. And at times like these, when it seems that half of the news is about Iran, and there are murmurs of the threat of a new war around the corner, it's time to start asking ourselves the big questions about Iran. Luckily, we've got the New York Post to do it for us.

ps...No, I'm not clever enough to think of the word "ahmadinejacket." Apparently it's really in use.

more Leo

2007-03-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, I have a very cute cat, so everyone has to be subjected to cute pictures.

2007-03-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Terribly sorry for the huge gap between posts. Things have been crazy at school, I'm working too much, and anyway it's not such a bad thing to cut down on internet usage, I figure.

Now I've got a break, the weathers beautiful so I'm back to cycling a ton, and I admit I'm a little bit bummed because I missed out on a great camping chance (I swear, the one night in about a year that I was asleep at 8:30pm, and I get an email invite...just my luck), but I figure I'll take it real easy this weekend...it's certainly quiet enough around here. And, I had a birthday recently, and despite it being in the middle of a big testing period here, I got together a bunch of my best friends and had a nice meal out. So my mood is generally good.

This is enough to let down any sort of good mood:
WILLITS -- It's the first stoplight north of San Francisco on 101. Willits is a quaint valley town of about 5,000 that some people say has a secret poisoned heart. Residents here have a wide range of health complaints:

"I've been nothing but sick," says 43-year-old Deanna Deaton. "I have bronchial problems all the time. I have neurological problems. I have tremors which I can't control."

"It's unbelievable. I've had 13 surgeries on my female organs and then a total hysterectomy when I was 28 years old," explains Melissa Anasatasiou, 32. "My daughter had her first surgery on her female organs when she was fifteen."

33-year-old resident David French developed a rare, often fatal blood disease: "Being exposed to the chromium and the burning of chemicals and the dumping in the creeks around there … I feel without a doubt that's what caused me to get sick."

Many people blame their illnesses on chemical toxins from the now-closed Remco chrome-plating plant in the middle of town. But despite lawsuits, angry meetings and expert panel recommendations, what's making the people in Willits sick remains unknown and, some say, intentionally hidden.

"We don't know for sure, because they haven't been studied," says Dr. Robert Harrison, an expert panel chairman in Willits. "They haven't had examinations or been provided with the kinds of medical services we recommended."

Court documents in a new lawsuit reveal decades of pollution dating from the sixties contaminating the air, the soil and the groundwater in Willits. The creeks flowing near what once was the busiest plating plant west of the Mississippi took the brunt of the toxic waste.

"When we were children, we'd play in the creeks all around Remco and around the schools," remembers resident Julie Johnson.

Baechtel Grove School, the town's middle school with 400 students, sits 40 feet from plant property. Court records show more then 30 years of pollution may have contaminated generations of children. One boy abruptly died several years ago, his parents say, after he drank creek water.

"I'm disgusted now, that they knew this was going on for so many years, and nobody was ever told," says 57-year-old resident Margaret Dryden.

Scientists have known for 50 years that hexavalent chromium used in plating causes cancer. But federal regulators resisted stringent workplace standards until just last year. Remco did massive defense work on missiles and submarine and cannon parts.

In court records, the company's own insurance carrier claimed the contamination was widespread and criminal. The contamination included not just chromium, but also solvents and toxins created by burning chemicals.

"My husband worked there for 18 years and he died a terrible death," says Gwendolyn Underhill, a 76-year-old resident who still lives in Willits. "He bled through the pores of his skin. Just bled, bled, bled."

Judy Cartwright-Gully says respiratory failure almost killed her two decades ago. She grew up a block from the plant in an area where state experts estimate high levels of toxics drifted through the air daily.

She says her mother died of cancer, as did her husband. Her son is now sick: "He just turned 40 years old and his father died when he was 43. It really bothers me he's going in the same path."

Deanna cleland says she had cancer and a hysterectomy at age 30. She lived for years right next door to the plant and says both her children have been sick almost from birth.

"I brough them home to the house on Franklin Street believing it was safe," says Cleland. "Your home is supposed to be safe. It wasn't."

Consider one idyllic street about a hundred yards from the Remco plant, on West Oak Avenue. It's what residents call "cancer alley." There have been 21 cases of cancer just on this block. It's where Patricia and Marvin Brannon have lived for the last 29 years.

"Why should you have to be sorry about that?" ask 78-year-old cancer patient and grandmother Brannon. "Why should you feel guilty that you let your grandchildren play in that creek where the water turned orange and the fish died?"

The Brannons say their three generations of cancer, reproductive problems and other abnormalities baffle their doctors.

"The best answer they ever told me was it was an 'environmental anomaly,'" says Marvin Brannon. "[That] was the word they used. I don't know what that means; it means they don't know."

Court records indicate toxins spilled and spewed from the plant for decades. Other court documents allege some workers intentionally dumped them in a nearby local pond and at many other spots around the county. The plant had the best jobs in town. Most workers kept quiet.

"There's people sick and dying in this town, and it's going to continue for a long time to come," says former plant employee Brad McCartney, whose body is riddled with tumors.

At a town meeting last June, Willits' leading doctor downplayed health risks, quoting a state report.

"It estimates that chrome exposure might cause at the most 13 additional lung cancers among the residents living near Remco," hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mills Matheson explained at the meeting.

Matheson declined to speak to KTVU, but said smoking is a greater lung cancer risk than Remco chromium and that medical monitoring for lung cancer would do more harm than good: "In the largest screening program that's ever been done, the people who were screened died sooner than the people who weren't screened."

Plus, Willits' city manager Ross Walker says city officials struck a deal with the plant. The agreement recently made front page news in Willits because it gives up any claim for future medical monitoring.

"The city's been in the thick of this since we sued the company in 1996," says Walker.

UCSF occupational health specialist Dr. Robert Harrison chaired a panel of experts looking at the Willits case. It concluded that ongoing medical help for residents is crucial.

"Those health effects may not be noticed for 20 or 30 years, even after the plant has closed," says Harrison

But many in Willits say most people here are not sick, and talk of illness and pollution is bad for business, turns off tourists and prospective home-buyers. The city says it is currently focusing only on plant clean-up.

"People want it to get cleaned up, put back in productive use, and move on," explains city manager Walker.

After millions of dollars in remediation, the head clean-up official says there is no significant risk today at the plant. The town dump is closed and being cleaned up. But townspeople say other contaminated sites around the Willits area are being ignored.

In order to clean someplace up, you have to face the reality that there's something wrong" argues 51-year-old local resident Julie Johnson

In return for the city giving up medical monitoring, plant owner Pepsi-Americas gave $4 million to a private foundation to build a new hospital. The daughter of Remco's founder heads that foundation; hospital Chief of Staff Matheson proposed the deal along with other doctors

Some residents say the hospital got the cash and they got the shaft. "I think we should get that money," says an angry Deanna Cleland. "It should help us get healthier if that's possible. We're all too young to be sick like this."

Several hundred residents sued Pepsi-Americas. The company has admitted no wrongdoing, but six months ago settled with about 300 people. The plaintiffs said a link between disease and the plant was difficult to prove. Most received $1,500.

"I just seen it as a sell out," says former Remco worker McCartney. "I took the money they offered and it was a cop out probably. I should a stood and fought, but I'm tired of fighting."

Bay Area civil rights attorney Bill Simpich has filed a new lawsuit based on new science on behalf of about 140 people including 57 children.

"We've got evidence that these individuals were literally poisoned by one particular chemical from one particular plant," says Simpich. He claims that chemical is dioxin from Remco and that its unique chemical fingerprint left in resident's bodies may finally prove their case.

Pepsi-Americas declined to speak to KTVU for this report and it's clear a lot of people in this town would just as soon this all would go away. But this new lawsuit appears headed for trial next year.

A grassroots group is trying to start its own health study and doctors say the cancers and other diseases will likely take years yet to develop. Activists say they don't want people to forget that what happened in Willits should serve as a warning to other communities.
Article
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bat demons

2007-02-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

In some places, rapists are prosecuted.

In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania...well....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6383833.stm

2007-01-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

We have a tendency to forget that our thoughts are predictable, signals fired due to the situation, influenced by our genetics and environmental impact, in short, our phenotype. We're fancy computers...while many choose to escape knowledge of such through religion, I'll carry on with the assumption that readers have chosen to accept reality. Yes, college has turned me into an elitist snob. Now I will continue to puh-poo all conservatives or religious people while sipping very bitter espresso.

Of course while we accept that we are computers, we live within the reality in our brains...otherwise we'd be considered sociopaths. We experience our emotions and get passionate about our "values." So of course I feel strongly about my "individualized brand of super-liberalism." And I read this article: The Ideological Animal

The second paragraph was good enough material to make me feel more self-righteous: after all, I was better than that silly typical San Francisco liberal: I didn't view just Republicans as ignorant, intolerant yahoos, why, I knew that both Republicans AND Democrats could be viewed as such.

The third paragraph was a reminder of how my brand of liberalism was individualized...oh no, I'm no sheep. I agree with her on small government and gun control, as well as personal responsibility!

I went on to the meat of the article. I laughed at the thought that my politics could have been easily predicted. Most peoples, sure; not mine. Then I read the list of characteristics associated with liberals

Messiness: dear lord, if one were to look at my room with that in mind and predict my politics, they'd think I go to every ANSWER function. Maps, travel documents, and flags: I haven't done as much travelling as I want, but check, check, and check. I love books, music, I'm an optimist (with the exception of my newly acquired "jaded" college student thing...all the cool kids are doing it), I love art...allright, just put me in my box!

Bah!

On vegetarianism

2007-01-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

Once in awhile I feel the need to review some of the basics of my lifestyle. A recent questioning of my dietary decisions at work and a roommate hastily turning to veganism (which likely isn't going to last, as it's halfhearted), and a cooking binge made me review my vegetarianism.

Actually, I'm not a vegetarian. I eat fish (but only the kosher kind). This apparently makes me a pescetarian, whatever that's supposed to mean. I was raised a meat eater. It never made sense to me. I always felt ridiculously guilty eating meat. After all, if I wouldn't want to kill an animal myself, it was probably for a good reason. However, I accepted the way I was raised and assumed that meat was necessary.

In the summer before tenth grade I worked for the conservation corps. It was there that I first remember being exposed to vegetarianism...I was in the fake hot dog line for kashrut reasons. Talking to vegetarians made me realize that it was possible...for a few months I filed the information away, then I went veg. Full out, no fish. And a couple years later, due partly to the urging of my mother, partly to research on fish-exclusive omega fatty acids, and probably partly to the deliciousness of lox, I went back to eating fish.

They say you are what you eat. I'm largely chocolate. But it is true that when I eat well (healthfully), I feel much better. I've been using a cookbook that I absolutely love, Jump Up and Kiss Me: Spicy Vegetarian Cooking, by Jennifer Trainer Thompson.

Anyway, it's a lifestyle decision that I feel strongly about. I don't go around preaching (though I'll be honest if asked), but I will say this: Do you really want to be directly responsible for the death of an animal you've been around? Having worked a good deal with goats, I'll bet they're smarter (and cooler) than your household pets...ok, that was low...but they're awesome. Same goes for many other animals. So why is it any better to pay for a bunch?

All of this is ignoring another huge reason

Of course, that makes me feel guilty for not being a vegan. I try to be careful about where I get my eggs and milk, but beyond that, it's hard. I could never be a vegan without seriously putting my health in danger. I don't have the time or money...and truthfully probably not the willpower. It's all about the extent of which you can do something...it's impossible to be perfect. But, I ought to push myself. I think I may stop eating fish, and maybe a vegan day a week? Hard to say. Such things take much thought (and support always helps, too) to stick to.

If you're feeling guilty, maybe it's time to do some reflection, find internal inconsistencies, and do what's possible to remedy them. If you're not, good for you.

And no, I am not procrastinating on studying...

NARAL campaign needs your help

2007-01-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Disturbingly enough, in some places, abstinence only education is still around. I'm still trying to figure out how someone could possibly think that a teenager's teacher telling them about such things would encourage them to have sex. I vividly remember being disgusted by my seventh grade teacher teaching us what oral sex was. And the pictures...stds that look like cauliflowers...well, let's just say that I'll be scared for life. Good job, bay area public school!

http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/choice-action-center/take-action/sex-ed-curriculum.html
Here’s how you can help:

1. Request a copy of your school’s curriculum. Whether you are a parent, student, or a community member, as a tax-paying citizen you have a right to know what your public schools are teaching.

a. Call your school’s superintendent’s office. Request that they mail you a copy of the sex-education curriculum. Here’s a sample script to use:

“Hello, my name is _____ and I’m a parent/student/community member in [your town]. I’m researching sex-education programs in our area and I’d like to request a copy of our school district’s sex-education curriculum.”

b. If you don’t reach your superintendent, you can contact principals, health teachers, school board members, or any other school administrator and pose the same question.

Grr, Mark!

2007-01-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

A- Available or single? Nope

B- Best Friend? I've had my best friend from elementary school, best friends from high school, best friends from college...I guess the best term is "close"...not even closest...because if we're going there, I might have to reference reasons for my answer to the previous question.

C- Cake or Pie? Cake all the way. But it's gotta be good cake, more like great cake...if it's bad cake, forget it, I'll take a bad pie. But a great cake....mmmm.

D- Drink of Choice? Coffee. Of what sort? Depends on my mood. Also, milkshakes.

E- Essential Item? My motobecane.

F- Favorite Color? Teal or turquoise...depends.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Sour worms...when they're not sour, then the little bears.

H- Hometown? Born in San Francisco.

I- Indulgence? Chocolate...bars, mousse, decadence, ice cream...ok, chocolate.

J- January or February? I prefer February, I guess, for the very slightly more tolerable weather.

K- Kids and names? 1, Leo. Oh, humans? No, none.

L- Above referenced reason for answer to question A stole the computer and wrote: Life is incomplete without? My cat, Leo. That and posting pictures of Leo on my blog. And talking about Leo.

M- Marriage Date? No.

N- Number of Siblings? None.

O- Oranges or apples? Oranges...I kinda like really good apples, but even then I prefer oranges.

P- Phobias/Fears? Falling, also open water is kinda scary.

Q- Favorite Quote? Albert Camus...what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?

R- Reason to Smile? Glass Danse, The Faint

S- Season? Spring. I'm cliche.

T- Tag three people! You see it, you do it!

U- Unknown Fact About Me? There's a reason it's unknown.

V- Vegetable you hate? Beets...yuck.

W- Biting fingernails. Blogging!

X- None. But I've had an MRI. Oh yeah, teeth...if those count.

Y- Your favorite food? We've been through this...chocolate! Savory? Garlic bread, or a good thai green curry.

Z- Zodiac? Pisces...not true...I suck at swimming.

2007-01-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

Important news: Leo was neutered today. I guess he'll be a little boy forever. Also, he weighed in at 9 lbs 2 1/2 oz. My coworkers laughed at me when I called the office to make sure he was allright, and I think the receptionist did, too. I hope I'm not on my way to crazy cat lady status. He's my baby (Mark, you understand, right?)!

I came accross an interesting article:

A twist on the oldest profession

It seems to make quite a bit of sense. My biggest question is: why wasn't this around before? If a woman is in Vegas and would normally go to the nearest bar/meat market with one goal in mind, why not pay a little extra for her pick of an STD-tested, good looking man who's likely ging to be a bit better between the sheets than most (though with our fairly repressed culture, it probably doesn't take much)?

updated pictures!

2007-01-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

More of the little guy...getting bigger by the day. He'll be 6 months old on the 13th.

More actual content to follow...eventually.

Goodnight everybody.

part of a 7.4 billion pound tidying program

2007-01-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

Something else to laugh at Britain for...like we needed more
tidy tape

tis the season

2006-12-29T23:06:00.000-08:00

Rogue Shakespeare Stout

This stuff is amazing. I tried it recently...it's rich and flavorful, yet it goes down astoundingly smoothly. So, I'm sharing the joy, and urging everyone to go out and get a bottle.

prostitution

2006-12-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

Along the lines of Mark's recent legalization post, another question of legalization: prostitution?

I tend to think it should be legal for a few reasons:

1) Consent issues aside, the government does not belong in the bedroom. In fact, nobody really ought to be judging the sexual habits of others. They are personal choices on the level of scale...with lifestyle choices such as no sexual contact before marriage, no sexual intercourse before marriage, monogamy, promiscuity...and who cares? Truthfully, I worry more about a choice to abstain sex before marriage than promiscuity, seeing as it may stupidly push a young couple into marriage. Sure, prostitution is something different in that in many cases it involves sex not necessarily for pleasure (though there are "female empowerment" advocates who believe that stripping and prostitution can be empowering), and for other reasons that nobody seems to be able to put into words for me (a clear sign of blind beliefs without logic), but who are we to judge, much less the government?

2) Would I rather have my law enforcement agency spending time and tax dollars on preventing violent crimes or prostitution?

3) The main motivation, in my opinion, is for the well being of the prostitutes and clients. Let's face it, prostitution is going to happen no matter what. Some say that it's the oldest profession. I'm sure we've all read some Bible stories, it wss definitely around . Why not have unions to protect the rights of prostitutes? Why not regulate the trade for things like STD's? And perhaps most importantly, why should a prostitute be afraid to call the police when s/he is in danger?

So, agree or disagree/why or why not? I'd be curious to hear opionions from everybody...so, if you're a quiet lurker, or have stumbled upon this, please comment. I'm hoping to slightly recover from my shock after arguing about this with a kid at work today, and after talking about safety, hearing him say "who cares if they're killed? They're prostitutes." But, if that's a common opinion, I'd be interested to find out.

2006-12-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

As promised to Mark, a couple of my favorite Ali G clips.

Ali G. vs Religion

Interview Pat Buchanan

memes

2006-12-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

Killing two tagged memes with one stone:

random questionnaire
1. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed?
I like it closed, but I often keep it cracked open for Leo to wander in and out.

2. What was the weather like on your graduation day?
moderate, if I remember correctly

3. What kind of winter coat do you own?
Wow this is random. Well, seeing as I'm in California, I don't need a dedicated parka. So, fleece, sweaters, etc.

4. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people?
California Greens plenary, a few months or so ago

5. Where do you keep your change?
my wallet?

6. Describe your keychains?
A very grabbable college lanyyard with bike lock, barn, condo, house back home, and pool keys

7. What is your favorite flavor of jelly?
boysenberry or peach

8. Some things you are excited about?
Friends are home during winter break, I can hopefully go home at some point, and a friend's wedding.

9. Do you re-use towels after you shower?
For about a week.

10. Have you ever been in a planetarium?
Yeah, they're fun.

11. Have you ever received one of those big tins with three kinds of popcorn?
Yes, they're awesome, but the caramel goes so much quicker than the others.

12. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair?
Nice cold Northern California pacific...yeah. Not an ocean, but the Mediterranean, at least in Israel, SUCKS for hair. And skin/smell.

13. Any plans for Friday night?
Not really. I'm lame. Shabbas candles? Last Friday night was occupied by Scrabble. I'm lame.

14. What is out your back door?
Small backyard, then small street, then greenbelt. I love where I live.

15. What's the most painful dental procedure you've ever had?
My wisdom teeth being removed, I was knocked out, but I was bleeding for over 24 hours and in bed for a few days.

16. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
That or other things

17. Who did you lose your concert virginity to?
Honestly, I don't know, I went with my mom to little things since I was a kid, and then in high school I of course saw my friends' bands, and I'd see free stuff in parks and at Amoeba. And of course the SF symphony. I think my first REAL concert was Tea Leaf Green.

18. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machine?
What kind of a question is that? There must be more to it, like "just randomly," or "so you can hear it later." But the answer to the question is yes, of course, that whole contact thing is sort of the point.

19. How many different beverages have you had today?
Coffee, cherry cider, water, and a Pyramid Apricot Heffeweizen (not as bad as I expected, the fruitiness wasn't sickening...it almost added as a contrast to the lightly roasted flavor...try it)

20. Last thing you recieved in the mail?
I might have gotten a bill or something boring since, but I'm counting Mark's awesome Phil Lesh and Friends Live at the Warfield CD's (thank you!)

21. Have you had to take out a loan for school?
Of course (unfortunately)

22. Do you have any famous ancestors?
Not that I know of

23. Your prom night?
It ended an hour or two after prom. I'd say prom was fun (beautiful place with a nice view and friends, and dressing up and getting your boyfriend in a tux is kinda fun), but the afterparty was fairly lame. Supposedly we left before all the fun happened. I still think after-prom time is overrated. High schoolers party all the time (no matter how lame it is) , and who wants to lose their virginity in such a cliche way?

24. Do you know all the words to the song on your MySpace profile?
Oh, I get it, this thing is for high schoolers. I don't have a myspace.

24. Are you any good at math?
Yeah, I'm pretty good, but it generally bores me.

25. What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
Lying in bed, checking email and cuddling with Leo.

26. What were you doing this morning at 8 AM?
Sleeping. Got a problem?

27. When was the last time you shaved?
About a month ago. I usually don't wear anything other than pants in the winter.

28. Explain what ended your last relationship.
I think I mentioned earlier that I was boring. It didn't end. I've been working on my first one for about four years now.

Tagged meme #2
I guess I'm like you, Mark

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Now, since I had to suffer, I'm making everyone else suffer. Do them or bad things may or may not happen to somebody.

update

2006-12-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, there has been a long gap between posts. The past month has been ridiculously busy, with additions such as a friend crashing in my living room (apparently breaking up with your girlfriend when you live together is complicated...who knew?), ridiculously tedious post-labs, work pushing me to full time (plus farmers markets), missed protests (damned misinformation), Thanksgiving at home (thank god for Leo to keep my sanity), and relationship woes (fortunately not mine, unfortunately from people who like to whine for hours about them).

But I figured I'd make sure everyone knew I was still alive. So here's my time to complain...about my favorite customer of the day.

A woman in line steps up to the counter, while I'm helping somebody else. I can tell by the snotty look and upturned nose that she thinks she owns everything. Likely not helped by clearly expensive designer coat, indicative of wealth. She is clearly impatient, and in order to get her out of the store as quickly as I can, I ask her what she would like while the customer in front of her is gathering his things. "One levain," she says, much like one would expect a patrician to order a plebian in ancient Rome...yet I had to gleefully note to myself that she had mispronounced "levain." I ring her up and put the bread on the counter. It was quite easily in her reach, certainly a tad closer to me, but right where one would expect a cashier to put down something when they are helping two customers with a line out of the door. I say, "have a nice day," and in an even snootier, more condescending way than before she says "MY BREAD?" I almost slipped. I was very close to asking "do you have arms?" Luckily the brain-mouth filter picked it up just in time.

2006-11-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

This might not be a very popular view in "tough on crime" California, but I think the craziest thing that passed in Tuesday's elections was 83. I sincerely hope that there's a piece of the law that I am missing and that somebody will correct me for being wrong, but from what I understand the category of sex offenders includes statutory rapists (the 20 year old who sleeps with his 17 year old girlfriend), consumers of child pornography (guess they should've stuck to "barely legal"), and streakers...all of whom will be forced to wear GPS anklets for life.

The issue to me is not necessarily just that of these people who have been convicted of seemingly minor crimes suffering from this ridiculous punishment, but rather that for some reason, people can't seem to accept that convicts who have done their time should be able to move on with their lives.

It looks like I'm not the only one who's upset: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-offenders9nov09,1,7118169.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

2006-10-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

From the South Dakoa abortion ban...

I would like to gently remind California readers that 85 is a clear attack on choice. And, for those who would like to think that it's just "letting the parents know"...it may as well be permission. Why would a parent sign a form of notification if they don't want it happening? And for those who think that there is always a way around it, consider both time constraints and small counties where pro-life judges can not be escaped.

There was a fairly small rally on Saturday. Some photos can be found here.

Saturday event

2006-10-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

Should be some nice counterprotesting in San Francisco on Saturday. If you're going to be in the area, please join.

Saturday, October 28
UN plaza
ANSWER counter-demonstrations

more details in the upcoming events section here

more Leo

2006-10-17T01:20:00.000-07:00

Because he's so cute....

oh, and no, that's not blood in the first picture.

hardly strictly bluegrass

2006-10-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

It's too bad some people left before Bob Weir. They missed him and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings...and, as he said, a 50,000 part harmony to Dire Wolf and Casey Jones. Yup, it was amazing. Too bad for the party poopers. I'm not naming any names.

don't forget to fix your women

2006-10-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is mainly worth watching for the interview with this nutjob about 5 minutes in.

If your stomach the disgustingness of his words, it is a bit funny to hear these words spoken in a heavy Brooklyn Jewish accent.

It should also be noted that a person who can make Richard Dawkins look like a sweet guy is quite remarkable in their assholery.

oh no...GAY!!!!

2006-10-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to read up a bit more on the Foley scandal, so I searched google for the latest news on the case. I found this (sarcasm following) very comprehensive, clearly amazing article in the Houston Chroncile.

Is it just me, or is something missing here?

I've been busy with school starting and the holdiays...not much time for the internet. Hopefully everything will get normal soon. And hopefully I can get a picture of Leo (who, by the way, is cuddling on my thigh).

sascha baron cohen is god

2006-09-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

If anyone takes Borat seriously...well, that's their problem.

Check out all these progressives!

http://www.democratsforlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=54

But hey guys, make sure to vote Democrat! We wouldn't want the right winning, let's preserve:

death penalty
three strikes
war in Iraq, upcoming war in Iran
war on drugs
ignoring the immigrant population
barring same sex marriages
patriot act

To be fair, the Greens aren't doing much. Tiny steps, but it's hard in a two party system. And I don't think it'll necessarily be the Greens (though European success keeps me from losing all hope) (and truthfully, I don't know that they're the ones I want...) who will bring the real left to the table...but it's the first step in the process, and it needs dedication. And there's no way I could in good conscience vote for a party that doesn't represent the left. A party that's moving more and more to the right every time I hear a speech, a party who's presidential candidates have been calling for more war...

Statistically speaking, my opinion will almost surely change in a few more years. But then again, I've enjoyed defying statistics a few important times.

But, I have more pressing issues. Such as Leo. Looks like I owe one ridiculously adorable little guy a nice cuddle.

Leo

2006-09-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

I promised Mark a picture of the little guy, but still no camera to take one with...so here's a video from the girl who gave him to me, from when he was 4-5 weeks old....he's almost nine weeks old now, and only cuter!

financial irresponsibility

2006-09-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

Fellow Californians,

Am I the only one who is steamed that the legislature is throwing us a bunch of BOND initiatives?

People always talk about how they support Republicans because they are fiscally responsible (in my experience, these are the people that don't know much about economics beyond sound bites). So why all the bonds?

Bonds often double (or more) the amount of money spent...and put it off so that me and my children can pay for your roads that you couldn't raise taxes for. Here's my all time favorite:

Proposition 1B

Pro-car...real sustainable...so lets pass on the debt for a couple of generations! Let's have our kids pay 38.9 billion for 19 billion dollars to help out the cars that shouldn't be so prevalent when they would use these "improvements."

But what really gets me...the "liberals" who decide how to vote based on the name they see when they get to the polls will vote for "transportion."

Fucking California.

download festival

2006-09-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Another great festival that people have got to go to...

http://www.downloadfestival.com/2006/sflineup.html

Between Beck, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Shins...and Muse ain't bad...$29.50 is a pretty good price.

freedom loving country, eh?

2006-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

39.2% of the 1,745,712 drug arrests in 2004 were for marijuana possession.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a ridiculous waste of law enforcement?

To begin with, there's the often used arguement for marijuana legalization that alcohol seems to have worse effects than marijuana. In my college town, I can't begin to count the incidences of vandalism fueled by alcohol consumption...from stealing public signs to smashing windows of cars. If the cops are looking for marijuana possession, why aren't they at least equally walking into frat parties and cracking down on underaged drinking? For that matter, why aren't they walking into frat parties in houses with frequent reports of date rape?

But it doesn't matter what you think of marijuana as a drug. The point is, use doesn't tend to affect the public much, so why is so much time (and tax dollars) devoted to cracking down on simple possession? And why are lives ruined (the justice system has a tendency to do so) over something so trivial?

on a COMPLTELY different note

2006-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

You gotta love QC

existential crisis

followed by:

genetic imperatives

2006-09-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today started out as usual. Well, the kitten woke me up at 6 in the morning to play, which was cute but not particularly exciting when you were going to sleep till 7:45, and needed every hour of that sleep...but nothing out of the ordinary. Got up, showered, grabbed a breakfast bar for the road, and biked to work.

A few hours into my work day, I walked to the back and heard an NPR reporter talking about 9/11. Which is fairly common, so I thought nothing of it...unitl I heard the words repeated about a dozen times.

And I finally remembered that it's the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

I had forgotten.

Truthfully, it doesn't surprise me all that much. I remembered on that day, my entire class was rattled and wanted to talk about it at every moment. I separated myself from all the talk. I don't quite know why, but it just didn't hold my interest. Sure, it rattled me a tiny bit, but it didn't touch me. I don't quite know why. Of course I was upset for all the lives lost, but no more so than for any other tragedy. Maybe because it happened in New York, a place which I've never even been to...I feel more connected to Israel. I've never felt strongly tied to being american, so that didn't do anything for me. Maybe it's because I'm terrible at internalizing tragic events...sure, when I'm scared of them, I'm stressed to a ridiculous point, but once they've happened...I suppose I just move on. Who knows. Anyway, I wasn't touched by what happened enough for me to feel comfortable about further discussion or introspection about the event. It'd feel fake.

I guess that makes me a pretty bad human. I can't help longing for half the humanity displayed by this

so long and thanks for all the fish

2006-09-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Taking another vacation from the internet this weekend for...

another Green Party plenary. At least this one's in Tahoe, not that horrible Ventura county!

ps

2006-09-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Holy crap who's going?

Elvis Costello. Billy Bragg. The Austin Lounge Lizards. And, for all the deadheads out there, Bob Weir.

still mad at 85...

2006-09-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.ucsf.edu/castd/toolbox/ConfidentialityToolkit.pdf#search=%22california%2C%20confidentiality%2C%20age%22

But abortion is different...not a medical procedure, no, it's a dirty evil thing that should be stopped by the law.

I don't get it...all this could possibly do is increase teen pregnancy and ruin lives.

Why do so many people think that their morals should apply to everybody and be enforced by law? There are things that I personally am not completely comfortable with...truthfully, abortion is one of them...but the law can not be based on individuals feelings. In order to restrict a person's freedom in areas that do not affect others, it seems to me that there had better be a factual/scientific reason. In this case, science tells us that most abortions "kill" something that's about as advanced as the fly that would be mindlessly swatted.

And don't get me started on birth control...pharmacists are allowed to not dispense birth control because they don't like it?!

Until reproductive health is treated with the same acceptance as the rest of health care, America will be home to double standards that prevent us from calling ourselves free.

bloody distortion

2006-09-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Two of my housemates are metalheads. I love them, but man do they need to get some taste. Don't get me wrong, I myself listen to a fair bit of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden...even newer stuff like Metallica and even Isis...but how can that and much grittier variations take over so much of one's repetoire? Distortion is fun...but how could somebody live without the intensity of Comfortably Numb, the warmth of folk rock, the tantalizing movement of Iron & Wine (if you're used to his more passe stuff, get Woman King and listen especially to Evening on the Ground)?

One of them has the nerve to say that rock is even more limited than metal. Just cause we don't have gay wizard music doesn't mean that at least feelings in the different sub-genres aren't wildly different. And then he says that rock doesn't have the complicated intricacies and is too repetitive.

Who the hell cares? It's about what you make of it and how you feel. Some of the most simple riffs and melodies can take you to a place that are just...out of body (and I swear, even though I'm a Green, it's not drugs talking). Even in normal circumstances...it just feels right...the way a good home or a good relationship or a good culinary favorite (garlic bread, anybody?) feels. So take that, technical death metal!

Christ, I just compared relationships to food...great ones to garlic bread. Wow, I wonder what a bad one would be.

Anyway, I get the last laugh. Since I'm moving in first, I get to decorate the place. That means Bob Dylan is in our living room.

"justice"

2006-08-31T14:24:00.000-07:00

Note: for the purposes of the internet, I'll probably still be dropped off the face of the planet for a few days.

Spending time in a courtroom is downright depressing. You see people slipping through the cracks as you watch. Black man after black man after black man...sure, the numbers might indicate that poverty is more widespread among minorities, and crime is more widespread among the impovershed...but that sort of disproportionality really makes me wonder. Public defenders who probably get too many cases to remember a single client's face mumbling with indifference, the judge looking at a stack of papers for a few minutes before making a decision and moving on...and what's this all for? Justice, apparently. It seems to only hurt. It also angers me that rapes occur every day, and where are the cops? Looking to see if they can find drug users and dealers.

Too much was running through my head, and I still haven't sorted it all out.

On a completely unrelated note...do males ever learn tact? Is it just something that seems absent in the early years, or is it (as I am suspecting more and more) something that is never learned? A couple of friends of mine recently broke up because one moved accross the country for college. He managed to move on, I guess, because within a week he found a new girl. Sure, it seems odd too me, and the girl is still upset and nowhere near moving on...but I can't really fault him for it, and anyway it wasn't like he was actively looking for anything. What can I fault him for, though? He broke the news by saying "I found someone to replace you."

Teenage boys...at least we can laugh at them.

not written under the influence

2006-08-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

I was reading To Kill a Mockingbird today, and at some point thought of the book survey, and realized that perhaps I'm not reading enough contemporary novels. I did just recently read Everything is Illuminated, but still...not very much. Yet I still feel that I need to firm my base in the classics...this is the first time I'm reading To Kill a Mockingbird (I'm in college), and I still haven't read Catcher in the Rye...I'd like to read more Dostoyevsky...and anyway, Naked Lunch put me off contemporary writing. I mean, just because you're on acid and a half million other drugs doesn't mean that you have the right to publish nonsensical garbage. I swear, 99% of people who bought that book bought it to look intelligent. Now that I think about it, some of the shittiest stuff I've read has been written under the influence...sure, many greats in writing (the beatniks), music (duh) and the rest of the arts have been on drugs, but for a good majority of people, they just make them stupid. And then they think their works are so great...man did I get sick reading poems and listening to songs by my stoner friends with egos too large for what they were producing.

The lesson here is...I have a lot of reading to do! And unfortunately, somewhere in there I have to waste my time reading Lord of the Rings because I promised a kid I would...though, she doesn't seem to be keeping to her word about reading an actual work of literature. I think I'll put it off.

bizarre

2006-08-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know how to feel...

Pluto loses planetary status

meme

2006-08-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sigh...I was tagged. I blame Mark for this source of procrastination.

1. One book that changed your life?
The Stranger, by Albert Camus

2. One book you have read more than once?
This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
the complete works (particularly short stories) of Mark Twain. He's got it all...funny, poignant, beautiful.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, or Oscar Wilde

5. One book that made you cry?
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

6. One book you wish had been written?
something great about why people shouldn't take themselves so seriously

7. One book you wish had never been written?
whatever the first book is on organic chemistry...grrr ochem

8. One book you are currently reading?
The Island by Aldous Huxley

9. One book you've been meaning to read?
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

from the lebanese point of view

2006-08-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Lebanese civilians talk about life in southern Lebanon during and after the war

There are points in this where I feel sympathy, and there are points that are utterly ridiculous. You really can see the power that Hezbollah has over the people of Lebanon.
For example:

Q: Is there widespread bitterness towards Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields resulting in many needless deaths?
Lina: Hezbollah never, never used civilians as human shields. It was a matter of pride for us; they were fighting for us. Everything they did was for us, so we could live in dignity and freedom.
--
It is Hezbollah who stopped Israel invading our country any more than a few hundred metres. And it liberated the south from Israel in 2000.
--
Fairuz: The reason we are happy about our martyrs is because we know there is a price for everything and we are willing to pay that price. If you want water you have to pay the price for it. Our blood is the only thing we have to pay with for what we want.
--
Q: Could Rim and Fairuz explain why they are reluctant to show their faces in the photographs?
Rim: At the slightest occasion Israel will be ready to display our photos and call us terrorists. They would probably put us on a list of terrorists, because Israel lacks democracy and freedom, unlike us.

a bit old...

2006-08-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/story?id=2288095&page=1

It's pretty strange stuff. I was talking about it with my boyfriend last week, and he asked me if my personality was already affected, what did I think of that. While it is a tad creepy, I suppose we are, on top of our genetic makeup, the sum of our life experiences...and what's worse about a parasite affecting how I think than the environment I was raised in?

Still, even with the rationalization, it's pretty creepy. PARASITES IN MY MIND!

Lafferty suspects it may account for cultural differences. Boring men in the middle east might not be a bad idea at this point...

Green wisdom

2006-08-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time with one of my favorite Greens. Late fifties hippie, miraculously mentally intact considering the ridiculous amount of drug use (had a really bad addiction to cocaine, now just a pothead with the occassional use of psychedelics), was a CO during Viet Nam...everyone knows the story. He now lives on a nice bit of land in the forrest, working his way off the grid. He's been active in the Green Party since for a good amount of it's history in America.

And he's a Zionist.

Still fairly critical of the Israeli government, mind you (though not so critical of the recent Lebanon conflict), but just will never shake off the nice Jewish upbringing. And very much in the closet about it. Anyway, in talking to him about the left's anti-Israel stance and bias against us pro-Israel folks, and he said something that I found very poignant. I'll end with it:

In order for peace to be reached in any situation, we need pro-peace people on both sides.

except for that whole slavery and racism thing...

2006-08-07T03:22:00.000-07:00

When forced to put a name to my politics, I often say "Jeffersonian."

"law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
--Thomas Jefferson

2006-08-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've been gone awhile. Some Zionist stuff was done. Some tormenting Nessie was done. Actually, after Thelma...I mean Tia...and I left some literature at his workplace, he called us "self confessed member[s] of a murderous death cult." Gotta love paranoia.

In my "what's pissing me off today" segment:

CA prop 85
73 failed. Can we be done with this? OK, to be fair, it was by a narrow margin and perhaps some of those voting no were fiscal conservatives who were voting no on everything because they were angry that their tax dollars were being wasted for an unnecessary special election.

But...I'm angry at the measure itself. We seem to have medical confidentiality at the age of 14 for just about everything else. This is just an effort to make abortion stand out and seem "wrong." And, it could easily tear families apart. Not that anti-abortion advocates care about the living or anything like that.

So...San Francisco. Saturday August 12, 9:30 AM. Civic Center. Be there or else!

more green anti-israel sentiment

2006-07-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

If you smile at me, I will understand
Cause that is something
Everybody everywhere does in the same language

How badly did I want to go to that concert? Not just CSN, Young was there too?! Pretty fucking badly. Of course they charged a ridiculous amount for their freedom of speech concert. Far too much for any real college student. But, those days are long gone, nobody cares about us anymore.

But I digress.

Seriously, why does it have to be so hard to be green and pro-Israel? Todd Chretien came to the rally (I had to miss out, so I've only got photographic evidence and stories), making the anti-Israel side look like a Green Party thing. I never even supported Todd, anyway. I voted for Kent Mesplay in the primary...a real green, unlike Chretien, just another ISO communist looking to take over the party. But, I was planning on voting for him in the general election...as part of the Million Votes for Peace campaign, a great effort to send the message to Feinstein and other pro-war democrats that they need to get their acts together. Now, I'm torn. Well, I'm not voting for Feinstein no matter what. Kent told me that he may be running a write-in campaign, though, it's always a possibility. I could always right to Todd and tell him he's losing a vote. Or tell him in person when the campus greens host him again in the fall.

Still, we're making strides. LA Greens, Advocates for Israel...it's just pretty frustrating right now.

ummm...oops

2006-07-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

We's done fucked up.

Four UN peacekeepers killed in Israeli airstrike

Might be time for a little restraint.

WILDLIFE ALERT

2006-07-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Programs/predator/control/index.html

The Forest Service has proposed new rules governing predator control -- aerial gunning, poison baits and traps, and the like -- in designated wilderness areas and research natural areas.

The new rules:

Relax the circumstances under which predator control may occur in designated wilderness

Permit killing the "local population" of animals instead of the "offending individual"

Permit motorized use inside designated wilderness areas for predator control

Permit poison baits and traps (the notorious "M-44" guns) where they were previously prohibited

Permit "collaborative groups" to set predator control objectives

Relax all the language that formerly provided some small measure of protection to predators in wilderness areas and Research Natural Areas

The Center for Biological Diversity is urging everyone who cares about wild animals and wild places to oppose this new rule change. This web page is designed to give you quick access to background documents that may help you understand and work to prevent this terrible rule from passing, and secure protection for wolves, coyotes, bears, foxes, bobcats and mountain lions wherever they roam.

What You Can Do
To sign onto the letter pasted below, send an email to
eryberg@biologicaldiversity.org with your contact
information, including a phone number.
Second, please consider writing your own comment
letter in addition to joining our sign-on letter.
Explain to the Forest Service why wilderness and
predators are important to you, and why you believe
they deserve complete protection from government
hunters and poison baits and traps. Comments must be
postmarked on or before August 7, 2006, and should be
addressed to:

Forest Service, USDA
Attn: Director, Wilderness and Wild Scenic Rivers
Resources
201 14th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250

You may also email your comments to

PDM@fs.fed.us.

For more information please visit:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/Programs/predator/control/index.html

This web page is designed to give you quick access to
background documents that may help you understand and
work to prevent this terrible rule from passing, and
secure protection for wolves, coyotes, bears, foxes,
bobcats and mountain lions wherever they roam.

Thank You,
Kimberly Baker
Klamath Forest Alliance
530-627-3090

Sign on letter:
Director, Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers
Resources
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
201 14th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20250

Dear Director:

We are writing to oppose the Forest Service rule
published in the June 7, 2006 Federal Register at
Volume 71, page 32915 that would expand trapping,
poisoning, and aerial gunning of bears, bobcats,
coyotes, foxes, mountain lions, wolves, and other
animals in federally designated wilderness areas and
research natural areas on Forest Service lands.

The proposed rule contains sweeping changes that
dramatically increase the conditions under which
predators may be killed in federally designated
wilderness areas and on Forest Service research
natural areas. Moreover, the new rule explicitly
permits hidden sodium cyanide traps within wilderness
areas for the first time, a reversal of the current
prohibition of these devices.

Predators play a vital ecological role, and they have
a place in wilderness areas and the public landscape
that surpasses any claim that can be made for domestic
livestock. They influence a myriad of other animals
and even plants in the ecosystems they inhabit. Their
prey species have evolved keen senses and strong
abilities to run, climb or fight for their lives in
the presence of predators—and
sometimes even time their parturition for maximum
safety.

The numeric balance of wildlife also shifts in
response to predation, and plants that are eaten by
the carnivores’ prey—such as cottonwood trees in
Yellowstone National Park where wolves have been
reintroduced—thrive when those herbivores’ access to
them is
limited. These changes in vegetation then further
reverberate in ecosystems in many ways, for example by
allowing beavers and songbirds to thrive.

Both Wilderness Areas and Research Natural Areas are
unsuited for aerial gunning and cyanide poisoning of
the animals that live there. Aerial gunning, killing
pups in their dens, and placement of buried cyanide
guns run completely contrary to the purposes for which
wilderness and research natural areas were designed,
and they
pose a danger to the many people who seek out
wilderness areas for the remote, primitive recreation
opportunities only those lands provide.

The most significant change in the new rule is Section
1(c), which authorizes collaborative groups to set
management goals and objectives for wildlife
populations, and calls for predator control in order
to achieve those objectives. For the first time,
predator control objectives in wilderness will be set
not by federal authorities but by
whatever private individuals have the ability or
financial incentive to form or attend a “collaborative
group.” Under this new provision, animals need not be
implicated in livestock depredation in order to be
targeted by predator control operations in wilderness
areas.

The current rule prevents indiscriminate predator
control in wilderness areas by requiring that only the
“offending individual” be targeted. But the new rule,
by contrast, permits entire “local populations” to be
killed in a wilderness area, thus making room for the
indiscriminate, programmatic killing of predators as a
general policy.  And because the new rule does not
require an individual animal to have been implicated
in any livestock depredation in order to be killed, it
opens the door to
continuous, scheduled killing of all predators that
may be found in an area.

The proposed rule reverses the flat prohibition on the
infamous M44 cyanide guns, which are buried devices
that, when triggered, expel a cloud of lethal sodium
cyanide crystals. These devices are indiscriminate and
a danger to humans and their domestic pets as well as
wild animals, and do not belong anywhere on public
lands,
much less in wilderness areas or research natural
areas.

Finally, the proposed rule removes the requirement
that the Regional Forester authorize each control
action on a case-by-case basis, and even permits
private individuals to conduct predator control in
wilderness areas. This almost guarantees abuse by
livestock interests and others with financial
incentive to kill predators.

In sum, the new rule would remove or significantly
reduce all of the current substantive protections of
wilderness resources.  It transforms a rule that
currently contains meaningful limitations on
government funded predator killing in wilderness areas
into one that permits programmatic and indiscriminate
targeting of entire local populations via aerial
gunning, motorized transport, and buried cyanide guns.
It risks the public’s health, and annihilates the
solitude so many seek in wilderness. It is a dramatic
step backwards in principles of ecosystem management
and the recognition of the important roles played by
predators in our nation’s most intact and cherished
landscapes.  We believe the proposed rule should be
withdrawn in its entirety.

Respectfully Submitted,

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

sickening

2006-07-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've felt torn about the current war (Lebanon and Gaza).

So of course when I read today that 5 were killed in northern Gaza when an Israeli shell hit a crowd outside of a block of flats, I felt pangs of guilt. And when I read about the 11 year old and his grandmother being among the victims, my stomach turned.

Then I read this:

Israel said the buildings in northern Gaza belonged to members of the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that it had warned residents to evacuate the buildings before the attacks to avoid civilian casualties.

Nothing angers me more than seeing a group warned and then not protecting civilians that will be in danger. Undoubtedly this is deliberate, with the idea that civilians dying will increase world pressure on Israel. The same sort of thing happens in Lebanon. Hezbollah hides itself among civilians and stores it's weapons in residential areas. What is Israel supposed to do, drop arms and let Hezbollah destroy them? Thank god civilians have been directly warned through leaflets, rather than relying on their government, or god forbid, Hezbollah to be responsible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5209964.stm

A friend's family lives in Kiryat Shemona. Their apartment building was just hit.

recent events

2006-07-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's 110 here. It's 75 in Jerusalem. No fair.

There have been quite a few protests of Israel in SF lately, partly because of the war, partly because it's the summer and lots of kids are free (not that the hardcore protesters have jobs, anyway), and partly because the al Awda conference was in town. We managed to get quite good turnouts to the last couple, which was very exciting. At one, a bunch of the people from Jews for a Free Palestine sat in an intersection. What did it do? Well, it stopped people from driving by and seeing their message. Also, since this was right in front of a large Wells Fargo, people were asking "what did Wells Fargo do." Furthermore, the message of Jewish Voice for Peace was diluted by the jihadis screaming things like "we support Hezbollah," "from the river to the sea," and "long live the Intifada." One person in our counterprotest shouted over the bullhorn something along the lines of "Jewish Voice for Peace, how can you stand next to this flag with a bloody fist?" And our crowds were large and fairly diverse. These were overwhelming successes.

Here are photos from the July 13 one:
http://www.zombietime.com/israeli_consulate_protest_july_13_2006/

For more, check out the Indybay Palestine page. Scroll down, links to photo pages are in the center column. Disclaimer: I do not take any responsibility for any nausea caused by reading any part of Indybay.

Also, on Sunday at noon there will be a rally in solidarity with Israel, at Justin Herman Plaza. Details are under the announcements here: http://www.sfvoiceforisrael.org/

pro-lifers making lives harder, once again...on the taxpayer's dollar!

2006-07-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

From Planned Parenthood...

So-called "crisis pregnancy centers" are proliferating across the nation — a deceitful new tactic of the anti-choice movement to keep women from getting the accurate education and health services they seek.

These fake "clinics" often masquerade as health centers offering the full range of reproductive health services, when their only real purpose is to keep women from exercising their right to choice and family planning.

One such center in Indiana shares a parking lot with a real Planned Parenthood clinic, and was designed expressly to lure our patients and deceive them. Recently, people from the fake "clinic" waged a campaign of intimidation and harassment against a 17-year-old teenager who, with her mother and boyfriend, came to what she thought was our clinic for an abortion. Over the following days, the anti-choice extremists called the police to say the girl was being forced to have an abortion, showed up at her home, called her father's workplace, and even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

The worst part? Your tax dollars are funding these "crisis pregnancy centers" to the tune of $30 million.

A new bill in Congress, the "Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act" (H.R.5052), would stop "crisis pregnancy centers" from deceiving women. Urge your representative to support this important bill.

Oy. According to another email I got:
These centers use neutral-sounding names and ads, falsely promising full reproductive health services. And now, thanks to an investigation by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), we know exactly what they're telling women, because female investigators called, saying they were pregnant, and recorded their conversations.

What kinds of sage advice are our tax dollars funding? Here are some direct quotes:

The research shows: Psychological stress after an abortion is NO MORE COMMON than after childbirth.
But they said: Abortions cause "guilt ... sexual problems ... suicidal ideas ... drug use, eating disorders" and "a downward spiral."

The research shows: Abortion does NOT cause an increased risk of breast cancer.
But they said: "All abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer in later years."

The research shows: Abortions in the first trimester, using the most common abortion procedure, create NO risks for future fertility.
But they said: It's "common" for abortion to lead to "many miscarriages" or "permanent damage," such that "you wouldn't be able to carry."

honest reporting

2006-07-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

So I've been sorta pissed about the way that LA-IMC is hiding legitimate but zionist comments. To be fair, most (keyword most) have either been spammed or have personal attacks in them, but some perfectly good comments have been hidden for no reason, and they don't seem to be hiding many of the anti-zionist comments, leaving up pure insults. What is worthy of staying up? Check out this wonderful article:
HUNDREDS OF MOSSAD AGENTS RUNNING WILD!

I did a little search of recent articles containing the word Mossad...not surprisingly, many came up. There were some nice ones like "Mossad and Abramhoff" with a nice subtitle of "Would yu [sic] like Mossad to install your telephone?" Here's another ge:
An article claiming, among other things, that Kristallnacht was a false flag op by THUH JEWS

And here's another one published today, from my favorite anti-semite WendyCampbell, or as David Gehrig calls her, Wenchmart Wendy, on why to boycott Wikipedia:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/168073.php

Indymedia. Quality news reporting.

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond

2006-07-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,1817988,00.html

ACLU report on the Minutemen

2006-07-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.vigilantewatch.org/docs/CreatingtheMinutemen.pdf

page 8 (labelled as 13 on the actual report) is of note...so much for the myth that the Minutemen attempt to perpetuate, that they are just a peaceful group that merely calls Border Control.

on the run from american imperialist pig eaters

2006-07-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

This probably isn't politically correct, but I can't stop laughing...

ACTION ALERT

2006-07-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, there are photos from the Ventura plenary, June 24-25. I was indeed there. It's possible that I am pictured somewhere within this album, but given that there were around 100 people in attendance (I think), it's not likely. But, certainly possible. It's a mystery!

http://tian.greens.org/GreenParty/GPCAJune06Ventura/index.html

Wanna see some misogyny? Check out this thread: http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/166993_comment.php#167617
Basically, TW getting pissed because a woman is aggressively debating and refusing to be subordinate. Also, check out the link that TW posted to a thread from a couple of weeks ago that is the most amazingly misogynist thing I've had the privledge of seeing in "progressive" circles. Theories that lesbians are angry because they need men, etc. It's a real piece of work:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/hidden.php?id=166360#166522

Now, for the feature presentation:

ACTION ALERT FORWARD WIDELY

Counter Protest Anti-Israel demonstration outside the
Israeli Consulate
Downtown San Francisco, 456 Montgomery Street
Thursday, July 13rd, 4:00PM

On Monday afternoon during rush hour, al-Awda,
A.N.S.W.E.R., MECA, and ISM will demonstrate at the
Israeli Consulate in downtown San Francisco against
Israels actions in Gaza. They call it an assault on
the Palestinian people and claim that Palestinians
are dying. What they fail to mention is that the
raid is in response to a sustained barrage of missiles
from Gaza into Israel and the internationally
condemned kidnapping of a young Israeli soldier by
Hamas militants. The groups sponsoring this
demonstration all demonize Israel as apartheid,
endorse Israels destruction, and refuse to even
acknowledge the violence the Palestinians perpetrated
against Israel that led to Israels defensive actions.

When Israel disengaged from Gaza last year, they
promised that assaults on Israel from Gaza would be
met with harsh response. In line with international
demands, Israel opened border crossings with Gaza when
there were not specific terrorist threats and turned
over the Rafah crossing to the Palestinians with
international observers. Despite this, the Gazan
militant groups, many supported or funded by Hamas,
intensified their rocket attacks into Israel.
Following a prolonged period where Israel exercised
restraint in the face of continuing assaults, Israel
struck back at the militants terrorizing Israelâ€™s
cities and farms near Gaza to put an end to the
assault on its citizens.

San Francisco Voice for Israel/Stand With Us will
counter the anti-Israel/pro-terrorism voice. We will
bring Israeli and American flags, pro-Israel signs,
and most importantly, the truth to counter the
genocidal hate and lies of the anti-Israel groups.
Our presence at these events has proven highly
effective at countering their message and making sure
that the anti-Israel activists can not push their
propaganda on the public unopposed!

Please bring your noisemakers, shofarim, flags, and signs. As
always, feel free to make your own signs but please no
signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic
group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or
Palestinians. Signs in violation of our policies will
not be allowed.

Demand an end to Palestinian rocket attacks against
Israeli civilians!
Demand Cpl Gilad Shalit be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror
attacks!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization
of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local
supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people
can have a future!

the first step to recovery is admitting your problem

2006-07-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

I can't quite figure out why Indymedia is so addictive. There is an element of good, a quest to spread truth. But that often is just an excuse. It's fun when you know people on it, but more fun are the people that you don't know (btw, Tia, I hope you're not offended that I really wanted a bedtime story from TW, not you...). It's so much fun to imagine what they're really like, especially your opponents. Nessie...well, we're on to his trail, and he knows it (hi there, Nessie!) But it's TW who's the most fun, I don't know why. I always wonder what everyone really is like...how old they are, how they act around their friends, their hobbies, marital/relationship status, what they do for a living...why should I care?

Regardless of the reason, you know you have a problem when you're walking back from a friend's place at 8 in the morning, after a fun filled night involving a few good friends, the new pirates movie, a hot tub and guinness...and you think, "wow, I must have missed out on a lot of indymedia talk, better hurry back."

Nevertheless, there's no way I'm quitting.

al awda protest

2006-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm calm enough to talk about this...

On Tuesday I went to one of the many counterprotests that SF Voice for Israel holds. What was different about this one, as opposed to the ANSWER ones? I directly faced hate.

I've heard the stories, I've seen it on Zombietime...but I've been pretty lucky thusfar. Sure, I've seen some kids trying to cross the street and get at us (one tried so many times that he was finally arrested), I've seen a few signs...but this was pushing my limits.

Truthfully, I put myself in the situation. For awhile, I stood right accross from their front lines...with a police barracade and a few feet of space separating us. An elderly woman making obscene gestures and shouting obscenities. No biggie, she was clearly crazy. Those brainwashed ANSWER kids, with their stupid hats and vests that make them look like traffic crossing guards, chanting stupid slogans like "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Annoying, but whatever. Teens screaming at us in Arabic. Not so bad at first..until you learn what it means. Redemption through blood. The Palestinian flag up front had a fist dripping blood. The young man holding it also had a boy on his shoulders who looked to be 6, smiling along with them. They were filled with hate. When our looks were horrified, their looks were smug. When I asked for peace, they barely responded...and continued with their hateful words. I couldn't stand it. I had to leave the front lines. The most effective thing, truthfully, was talking to people. There were pro-palestine supporters on the other side of the street, separated from the haters...a much more peaceful bunch. They were willing to compromise. I actually knew some from green party business. Nice people. Those I didn't know were interesting to talk to...they were shocked when they figured out that I wasn't a neocon..."but Bush supports Israel?!" Oh, San Francisco, where shallow liberalism in the form of Bush hating replaces the fashion of LA as trendiness.

When I got back, I found out that there were more disturbing chants
Itbakh al Yahood
Kill the Jews

So, it's happening again. Once again, al-Awda organized, same time, same place. Except this time it's right before the al-Awda conference, where haters are shipped in from accross the country. What a bunch of fun! Well, this time, hopefully our tactics will be different. And hopefully I'll be able to ignore the hate.

I don't think anybody reads this blog, but just in case...for those who can make it to San Francisco next Thursday:
http://www.al-awda.org/events/san-francisco.html

great comment on indybay

2006-07-06T01:00:00.001-07:00

The right path isn't always the

by easiest one

Wednesday Jul 5th, 2006 2:25 PM

It only goes to show the desperation of life living under the occupation that people, especially young people, are willing to give up their lives in resistance.

It is tragic to live in a society without hope.
What matters is how you deal with it. Do you choose the path of King and Gandhi, or do you choose the path of violence and war?
I am reminded of the Jews after World War II. Their homes were gone. Their families were gone. They had nothing left and nothing to live for. Rather than seeking revenge against their tormentors, the reminding Jewish population sought to peacefully re-establish their lives.

There is always a choice. Choose peace.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/03/18285026.php?show_comments=1#18285669

And, it would be very condescending to assume that just because they hail from a different culture, they have no personal responsibility...

And don't you just love their government? Oh yeah, Hamas is definitely moderating. Check out this state sponsered commercial, and prepare to be disturbed: http://www.pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_duraClip2006.asx

Oh, and I was at the rally that is pictured. I still haven't calmed down, I can still feel the hatred of Jess Ghannam's crowd. I'll post later.

it's not easy being green

2006-07-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

I've been wondering what it means to be a green. I've met people that identify as greens, but aren't registered. I've met many that say that they were "green before there was a party." Not many people would say "I'm a democrat" or "I'm a republican" if they haven't registered. Maybe there are some libertarians in this conundrum as well...it is a political philosophy. Same with the greens.

http://www.cagreens.org/platform/10k.htm

That's what it means. Some might be strange or redundant, but others are truly key...nonviolence (when possible, at least...), decentralization and grassroots democracy (as opposed to this neoconservative method of centralizing everything...seems some dems have the same views...we need to have this be a government by and for the people), environmentalism (how could you not be?), and social justice...this is separate from personal responsibility, because given that the purpose of the government is to protect the interests of the people, it must ensure that there is social justice...often in the form of government services. This is probably where we break off from libertarians...while decentralization often provides that laws regarding personal choices that don't affect others are not prevalent, this is not the case in ensuring broader social justice. Lets not be naive...personal responisibility isn't gonna cut it. And that's the governments place to step in, to protect individuals from larger entities. Those crimes could be equated to theft. I can't begin to describe how frustrating it is that the Enron guys will get off with less than someone who steals electronics from a store. I guess it's sad that I have a lack of faith in humanity, but that's just life.

Still, to be a real green, you should at least register...show support and grow the party. And registering democrat or republican, which are pro-war corporate parties...I just can't see how that's possible.

hope

2006-06-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

Seeing Red Over Green’s Israel Policy

by Robert David Jaffee, Contributing Writer

Local leaders of the Green Party are working to overturn an anti-Israel resolution that has become official party policy. Resolution 190, which passed in November, calls for a boycott of and divestment from Israel until “the full individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people are realized.”

Indicating that they have “lost several party members as a result” of the resolution, the L.A. Green Party’s County Council wrote a formal letter stating that “the issue is far more complex than is captured in the resolution” and referred to the resolution as “divisive.” Resolution 190, which urges all companies, governments and student organizations around the world to boycott and divest from the Jewish state, makes no reference to violence that targets Israeli civilians, such as suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Nor does it take into account, for example, the nuclear threat from Iran or human rights violations in countries hostile to Israel.

Resolution 190 was adopted by the Green Party after four weeks of discussion, which culminated in approval by national party delegates in online voting.

Leading the effort to denounce and rescind the resolution are Gary Acheatel, a Beverly Hills High graduate who founded Advocates for Israel in Oregon two years ago, and Lorna Salzman, a New Yorker who ran in Green Party primaries as a presidential candidate in 2004. They have disseminated two substitute resolutions that aim to “initiate a broad, open dialogue” involving state committee members and the Israeli Green Party.

In a shift of rhetoric, the substitute language removes the onus from Israel and proposes a policy of opposing “U.S. military aid ... to all countries that have a record of violating human rights, including the mistreatment and inequality of women....”

The internal conflict over Resolution 190 exposes deep rifts within the party. While the Green Party has long dedicated itself to ecological matters, there is some debate as to whether the party’s platform embraces human rights and peace, especially within the context of foreign policy.

When an issue is “far from what is already agreed upon in our national platform,” said Michael Feinstein, former mayor of Santa Monica and co-founder of the Green Party of California, “it is necessary to reach further into the party’s grass roots to ensure that positions taken are truly reflective of our membership.”

But Ruth Weill, a member of the Wisconsin Green Party, the source of Resolution 190, said the Green Party has always taken stands on issues of social justice: “We’re the party that’s been trying to end the Iraq War for three years.”

Weill, who like Feinstein is Jewish, adds that Resolution 190 is justified because of Israel’s “continued occupation, cutting off of water aquifers, violating tons of international laws.”

Supporters of Israel and Israel itself often have been on the defensive because of general hostility toward the nation but also specifically because of opposition to the Israeli presence in territories since the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1975, in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War and the first oil crisis, the United Nations passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The United Nations rescinded that resolution in 1991.

Some Arab and Muslim-majority nations have long practiced an economic boycott of Israel, but in recent years the idea has gained some traction in the West. Israel has been equated with regimes like apartheid-era South Africa, even as other nations that notably violate human rights, such as North Korea and China, escape similar censure. The Presbyterian Church (USA) two years ago passed an anti-Israel resolution. Other entities have refused to do so. The British University Teachers Union and residents of Somerville, Mass., a suburb of Boston, rejected resolutions that proposed divestment from Israel, according to published reports.

Resolution 190 was the brainchild of two Wisconsin Greens, Ben Manski, who is Jewish, and Mohammed Abed, a member of Al-Awda, an Islamic organization that advocates for Palestinians’ right of return. Abed said that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is “comparable in many ways to South African apartheid.”

Manski defends the procedures by which Resolution 190 became party policy. He said that there was a “lengthy discussion” over four weeks and then online voting over two weeks. Although only 72 of 126 Green Party national delegates voted on this resolution, it was approved overwhelmingly; 55 supported it, 7 voted against it and 10 abstained.

Manski hails the process as “one of the most democratic, deliberative and transparent” of any party. However, the Israeli Green Party, which called Resolution 190 “a breach in trust,” was not consulted during the debate. Most Greens in Los Angeles County were also unaware of the resolution until after it passed, according to local party members interviewed.

“The vast majority of active Greens in L.A. County and across California had no idea that this was being debated or voted upon,” said Feinstein, who added that L.A. County has roughly 25,000 registered Greens, which he asserted is more than Wisconsin or any other state except California and New York.

At the time of the Kosovo war, said Feinstein, the German Green Party, which is part of the international Green Party, held a national meeting to discuss intervention in that Balkan republic.

“Here, we had an e-mail vote,” said Feinstein.

It isn’t entirely settled what it would take to rescind the resolution — whether it would require a majority or two-thirds vote. Nor is it clear what form the vote would take. But the critics don’t intend to let the matter go.

A series of talking points, circulated by Salzman and Acheatel, argue that Resolution 190 “reflects interference by and manipulation of the [Green Party] by outside special interest groups.”

They specifically cite Al-Awda and the American Muslim Association. Of these outside parties, Salzman said, “As far as I’m concerned, they wrote the declaration.”

Resolution co-author Abed called this “utter garbage,” adding, “Ben Manski and I wrote it as members of the Green Party,” not as representatives of any other organization.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15893

--

This definitely gives me hope. It also worries me that it's Feinstein pushing it, he's at the front of one of the two major factions within the California party, and is fiercely hated by many. I disagree with his internal party politics, since he seems to care very little about decentralization, and since he is pro-fusion (with democrats), but I'm glad to see this happening, and certainly will support any further effort to overturn Resolution 190. Personal politics regarding Israel aside, this is first alienating many Greens (and there indeed seems to have been a bit of a "Jew flight"), and on the other end, possibly keeping potential Greens from coming into the party.

It's sad and scary that Israel seems to have become a bad word within the party. I myself have kept it fairly quiet, only a few people I trust know. I know someone who has much repect within the other faction of the party, and though is a Zionist, will not talk about it openly for fear of losing support. It's horrible that this needs to happen. I think there are many others like this, if only there was a way we could contact everyone and meet...

Goddamn Jess Ghannam calling Palestine as the touchstone of the left.

my new hero

2006-06-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

I have no time to write anything original at this point, since I have a choice voting meeting to be getting to. Though, that reminds me, I oughta write something on that at some point.

Anyway, here's an article found here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13221673/?GT1=8211

--

TAMPA, Fla. - A federal judge, miffed at the inability of opposing attorneys to agree on even the slightest details of a lawsuit, ordered them to settle their latest dispute with a game of “rock, paper, scissors.”

The argument was over a location to take the sworn statement of a witness in an insurance lawsuit.

In an order signed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell scolded both sides and ordered them to meet at a neutral location at 4 p.m. June 30 to play a round of the hand-gesture game often used to settle childhood disputes. If they can’t agree on the neutral location, he said, they’ll play on the steps of the federal courthouse.

The winner gets to choose the location for the witness statement.

“We’re going to have to do it,” said David Pettinato, lead attorney for the plaintiff, Avista Management. “I guess I’d better bone up on ‘rock, paper, scissors’ rules.”

Last year, officials of the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s engaged in the game to decide who would get to sell a $17.8 million collection of art offered by a Japanese electronics company. Christie’s won.

california proposition 82

2006-06-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed that proposition 82 was crushed with a 61% no vote. Universal preschool is a huge step towards equality of opportunity. It is largely agreed upon that those years play a major role in how a child will develop. I was lucky, my mother's work paid for my preschool education and I learned to read when I was 3, haven't stopped loving it since. If, however, we weren't able to pay and I had to wait until kindergarten or elementary school to learn, behind much of the rest of the class, I imagine it would be frustrating and I wouldn't enjoy it as much. Then again, I was a stubborn kid...but still! Not to mention, it sets a foundation to learn how to learn, rather than taking the time to adjust once a child reaches school age, and starting off on the wrong foot. This was a small tax on individuals earning more than $200,000, and couples earning more than $400,000. Of course the leaders of the two major parties are rich bastards, and the Dems started selling this idea that the money needs to go to K-12...true, they need money, but this isn't taking the money away...this is a separate, new tax. Voting this down sends the message to legislators that California cares more about the rich keeping their money than education, so good luck getting a new measure out to give K-12 education more money!

upholding Griswold v. Connecticut

2006-06-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

According to an email I got from NARAL, today is the 41st anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut, which struck down a ban on birth control. As we speak, lawmakers in 18 states are working on legalizing a pharmacist's choice to deny birth control, setting it apart from other drugs as being one that a woman, even with the consent of a doctor, does not have the full right to choose. Apparently the pharmacist has the right to make this choice for her, if they feel morally superior. As we all know, these are the same people that would love to see abortion criminalized.

If this upsets you as much as it upsets me, take two seconds and go here:
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/98_griswold/w3b6d3kra5k36td

IndyBay's demise

2006-05-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

IndyBay is now a wasteland. The hidden comments section is GONE. Screw dialogue, they say, lets have diatribes...from one side. What is the point of this, and how is it in the spirit of open publishing, work towards peace, understanding, tolerance, and freedom of informatiom? I haven't the foggiest. The Left of Northern California is now officially deprived of open publishing IndyMedia...SFIMC is controlled by Nessie and only has his stuff, IndyBay is gone, and Santa Cruz...well that's a topic I ought to write more on, some other time. They have shut out Becky Johnson, fabulous journalist and effective activist, because she has written in support of Israel. Listening to their interviews is disgusting...a bunch of self righteous pricks, really, who ask the same question over and over again after being proved irrelevant.

To see the IndyBay Zio-pack (it's a shame this is all anonymous, it would be good fun to have events), we're all at la.indymedia.org...myself, Becky, Tia, Gehrig, Schtarker Yid, and our old friend the Israeli who was autoblocked at IndyBay last year and posts as autoblocked@IndyBay. Nessie and Toady (the one who never makes his own arguement but instead posts links to Allison Weir's website and short slogans like "Zionism is Racism"are joined by blatant anti-Semite Sheepdog (who once said "I hate 95% of Jews and immediately followed it up with "Yeah, I hate 95% of assholes"....nice slip).

anti-Zionist often DOES mean anti-semite

2006-05-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

I try not to throw around the term "anti-semitic," and do not assume that all anti-Zionists are anti-semitic. Sure, many of them unfairly focus on Israel, but it's often because of lack of education, or...well, I don't know, but I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. I really think the term is thrown around too much and has started to lose its power.

However, there unfortunately IS a good deal of anti-Zionist propoganda that is anti-Semitic. One example: the website http://www.nowarforisrael.com I first saw it through recommendations on www.indybay.org At first glance, it's just another anti-Israel website. One of those sites that you just about know is run at least partly by anti-semites, but you can't quite pin it on them. Want to know who hosts it? www.davidduke.com That's right, David Duke, full fledged neo nazi.

I really oughta find just how many sites David Duke hosts. Watch, they'll be some IndyMedia on it...maybe SF-IMC, run by Nessie, the "I hate 99% of Jews" guy.

Gun Control

2006-05-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Growing up in the Bay Area, I was indoctrinated into following just about every part of the liberal dogma. It was just about impossible to disagree without being called a "facist." One issue that I didn't think about very much was gun control. It seemed very simple, guns=killing=bad. Gun control=no killing=good. Right?

Wrong. As I grew older, I began to realize the flaws in my logic. There were two major components to my change in opinion:

1. Gun control and violent crime
Wrong, very wrong. The people who are determined to use guns for crime are going to get them no matter what...lets just face that fact. With high gun control, law abiding citizens are less likely to own guns, and when they are put in danger by those who have not followed these laws, they are often rendered defenseless.

The immediate aftermath of Hurricaine Katrina opened my eyes even more. I thought, "what if a natural disaster happened where I live?" Would I, like many who were in New Orleans, have food and necessary supplies stolen at gunpoint? How would I be able to defend myself and my family? If I were in San Francisco (which will likely be hit by an earthquake of enormous magnitude in the next 25 years), given the recent gun ban, I would be up shit's creek without a paddle.

2. Bill of Rights
I'm scared of the Bill of Rights being muddled in ANY way whatsoever. The second that the Second Amendment is messed with on a federal level, politicians are able to justify taking away other civil liberties (ie in the Patriot Act, the wire tapping scandal).

Also, we must look at the reason that the Second Amendment was written...these were those who fought in the Revolutionary War, and who experienced firsthand the consequences of not being able to defend oneself against the government. If our government does take an extreme turn for the worst, and we find the need to oust it, we'd likely need weapons. At this point, I'd only advocate reform of the existing system, but hey, who can truly predict the future?

gay marriage

2006-05-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

For my first issue, I figured I'd give myself an easy one. So here it is: gay marriage. Why's it so easy? Because it's so goddamned straightforward, if you actual care about equal rights, there's no way to justify not allowing gay marriage.

The counterarguements:

1. public opinion
Who gives a shit about public opinion when we're talking about a basic civil liberty? For quite awhile, public opinion was against interracial marriage, as well. I don't care what gives people the heebie jeebies, they're discriminatory heebie jeebies, and they must not interfere with the rights of others. Anyway, this country is not based on mob rule...given the average intelligence of Americans, we'd be screwed.

2. "marriage is between a man and a woman..."
The only "proof" for that is religious, and I heard about this nifty thing...I think they call it separation of church and state. Once again, I will not fall for the heebie jeebies craze.

3. "sactity of marriage..."
Britney Spears had a what...24, maybe 48 hour marriage. If that's not a threat to the "sanctity of marriage," I don't know what is.

4. "slippery slope"
Bestiality? Incest? Pedophilia? Consent issues.

5. state rights
I felt the same way at one point...I'm a big fan of state rights, as well, due to my fears of a highly centralized huge government not being able to serve it's citizens well. The constitution does indeed give responsibility of marriage issues to the states. However, this isn't a small issue, it's a basic civil right, just like marriage is...for all citizens of the US. It's an issue of discrimination, and it's an issue where basic definitions need to be changed. Slavery was also argued to be a state issue, as it was legally a property matter at the time. But the US government stepped in and took away this terrible definition, as it needs to in this case. Where does it have the power to this? Well, there's a reason the elastic clause was written...and it absolutely should not be abused, but in an issue regarding discrimination and civil liberties, I would consider it appropriate.

first post

2006-05-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

I've been needing an outlet to ramble freely about politics, without the fear of being shunned by a group I work with politically, or censored. I'm supposedly somewhat of a political anomaly: a Green Zionist. As I talk about it more and more, I find that this is not necessarily the case. Many are scared as a Green to come out as being pro-Israel, or as a Zionist to support a party that seems resolved to hate Israel. There's also the problem of the classic Jewish democrat, often quite progressive, but scared to join a third party. I hope that my generation will be more gutsy, especially after seeing the betrayl of the Democratic Party (voting for the war, not standing behind immigrants, etc), but it seems that a wave of apathy is spreading. Sure, many say that they are anti-war or pro-choice, but action? I see none. Genuine efforts to stay informed? Not so much. Many of my friends are shocked to hear of that the Democratic Party disagrees with them and 70% of registered democrats on a variety of "hot" issues (death penalty, immigration, etc). Yet they will never change their registration. When pressed, they often respond "but there's nobody in the Green Party, they'll never make a difference" (so register and encourage people to do the same, it can't hurt), "they're spoilers" (why bother voting for a pro-war candidate, and if you're really that scared, just register Green, don't vote Green), "I want to vote in the primary" (this often refers to the presidential primary, and by time it gets to here in California, it's basically decided), or...Israel.

Yeah, it's the last one that gets me. It's a general thing in the left. At rallies and protests in San Francisco, there is often much irrelevant Israel bashing. On IndyMedia sites, Zionists are discounted solely on that one political beliefs, and on sites like IndyBay, we are censored and autoblocked. Whatever happened to tolerance? Whatever happened to defending our Bill of Rights? It's scary. Gary Acheatel of www.advocatesforisrael.org is working on reversing Resolution 190, the GPUS resolution for divestment from Israel. I plan to help him in his efforts. I have met Greens who believe that this resolution is isolating many Greens or people who would be Green, and some who do actually support Israel-- but they're scared to say anything. We need to be loud and proud. I have found that as soon as somebody says that they are pro-gun (for reasons such as not wanting the Bill of Rights messed with, or being prepared to defend our rights to the government by force if needed), many others say, "oh, me too..." I've heard of "Greens for Guns" caucuses being formed. Loud and proud.