The Protest Marches in Dublin

[Dublin, a city of outraged conscience]

This weeks thousand of protestors from across the political spectrum of the Irish capital took to the streets in angry protests sparked by the massacres in Urumchi in East Turkestan, called Xinjiang by the Chinese government.

The Chinese government admits to 197 deaths, mostly of indigenous Uighurs. Uighur sources, though understandably unable to be exact, say that in fact thousands of Uighurs have been killed by the Chinese authorities and in inter-communal clashes. Though reports are sketchy, it appears that in response to Uighur attacks, Han Chinese residents retaliated by killing a number of Uighurs. Most Han residents of Urumchi are settlers who have immigrated to the Uighur province of Xinjiang since China took control of it in 1949.

The violent killing of hundreds or thousands of innocent Uighur Muslims by Chinese authorities and settlers, sparked angry demonstrations all over Europe. In Dublin, the Dail voted a motion condemning Chinese aggression and withdrawing the Irish embassy from Beijing. The Irish Academics Association main executive body voted to suspend all contacts with Chinese academics.

The Irish National Student Association voted to boycott all Chinese-made goods. When it was pointed out that that included all iPods, cellphones, Blackberries, PDA's, Gameboys, Wii's, laptops, running shoes, and clothes, the resolution was amended to add the language, "in principle". Questions from the floor of "What principle?" were ruled out of order and the amended resolution was passed.

At the same time the Irish Socialist Party voted to divest from China in protest. As with the resolution of the Student Association, questions from the floor of "Divest what?" were ruled out of order. Sources indicated that the objectors were apparently the same persons as had objected during the Student Association vote. Their leader, Yitzhaak ben Diogenes, was escorted out of the hall by ushers.

In a public response interview, a Dublin-ite who gave his name as "Christy" was disturbed from his slumbers on the floor of a local alehouse. We asked him his opinion of the Urumchi massacres. Lying amid the sawdust and vomit, he opined, "Fuckin' Japs!" and passed out again.

Across town in another public response interview we spoke to a Dublin man named Damien. Damien said he regarded the massacre as a bad thing because it distracted public attention from real atrocities like Jews making Arabs wait in line at checkpoints to have their identity cards checked.

Israeli Intransigence

NETANYAHU: ARAB INITIATIVE CAN BE BASIS FOR PEACE Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Arab states to negotiate with Israel on the basis of the Arab League's peace initiative, hinting that certain alterations in it would help to advance peace in the region, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. "We appreciate the efforts by Arab states to advance the peace initiative," Netanyahu said. "If these proposals are not final, they can create an atmosphere in which a comprehensive peace can be reached." The prime minister added, "we hope in the months ahead to forge peace with the Palestinians and to expand that into a vision of a broader regional peace." Throughout its history, Israel has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to resolving the conflict with all of its neighbors by taking risks for peace.

The Two-State Solution

GAZA CHILDREN STAGE MOCK ABDUCTION OF ISRAELI SOLDIER In a further sign of radicalization in the Gaza Strip, children in Hamas-run summer camps recently reenacted the abduction of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in the presence of top Hamas officials, The Jerusalem Post reported. "This sends a message," one Israeli defense official said. "This is Hamas's way of showing Palestinian children that kidnapping soldiers is the correct way of life." Shalit was seized more than three years ago when Palestinian terrorists tunneled into Israel, abducted him and killed two other soldiers. In the past, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups have used summer camps to train children to fire rockets, rally praise for Palestinian "martyrs" and preach an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish worldview.

Isn't a Blue Dog just a Blue Sonofabitch?

[Watchdog of the people's interests? Well, no.]

from an article about the health care reform bill, in today's LA Times -

The deal, worked out between a group of fiscally conservative [House] Democrats and Rep.Henry A. Waxman (D-BeverlyHills), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, changes the way a proposed government-run insurance plan would operate in order to allay concerns that it could crowd out private insurers.

This is excellent because it demonstrates what is meant by "fiscally conservative". It means "belonging to, or under the control of, business interests". These are Democrats mind you, the Party of Change. The Republicans, also fiscally conservative, are generally worse.

Apparently it is the considered opinion and honest, impartial judgment of this group of legislators that the problem with health care is that the insurance companies may not make enough money in the future.

At what point one wonders, does sacrificing the welfare of the nation to the interests of the few become treason? If not in law, then in fact?

Yikes! I am starting to sound like Ann Coulter. Forget I said anything.

Not As Important

as several thousand gay people being unable to marry is that tens of millions of Americans do not have medical coverage. Insignificant as that is compared to the unmarried state of the nation's gaiety, the President devoted a press conference to the issue anyway.

It is 54 minutes long, which is a long time to listen to even a good speaker like Mr. Obama talk about a subject notorious for its platitudes and boring technicalities. Nevertheless it is a huge subject and one that will loom large this year. It is good to hear the administration's side from the horse's mouth. Or if you don't care for the President, from the horse's ass. If 54 minutes is too long to endure, listen to the first eight minutes in which he summarizes the administration's position.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/The-Presidents-Press-Conference-Full-Video/?e=8&ref=text

One thing the President comes close to saying but never does say, is that most of the problem is the insurance companies. Doctors and nurses are expensive but they contribute to people's medical care. The pharmaceuticals companies are demonstrably greedy heartless bastards making unjustifiable profits, but they contribute to people's medical care. Hospitals and their staffs, medical labs and their staffs, medical equipment providers, are all expensive but they contribute to people's medical care.

Insurance companies make huge profits while contributing nothing to anyone's medical care. Worse yet, they actively prevent large numbers of people from getting medical care in order to reduce their risk of paying out. Yet accepting risk of paying out is the sole reason why there should be insurance companies at all.

The President elected to bring about "Change" is unwilling to change anything fundamental in what he publicly claims is the area of American life most in need of change. In his press conference he said his plan would create a public payer in competition with the insurance companies to "at least keep the insurance companies honest".

So far from keeping the insurance companies honest, this proposal is sure to enable them to fob off bad risks with pre-existing conditions onto the government while keeping only healthy low-risk insureds themselves. So far from keeping the insurance companies honest this is sure to mean that the insurance companies are free to cancel the insurance of any of their insureds who has the temerity to get sick. So far from keeping the insurance companies honest it makes them immune from suit by the canceled insured. He or she has a viable federally funded alternative, so in theory (and only in theory) suffers no monetary damages he can sue to recover.

The analogy is the private schools and the public schools. Every problem child, every disrupter, every slow learner, every kid whom the private schools don't want, gets fobbed off on the public schools who are forbidden to turn anyone away. So the well-funded private schools, rid of the more expensive problem children, do just fine. The public schools, with over-taxed budgets and full of the private schools' rejects, provide an ever-worsening sham of an education. They are even further handicapped because hamstrung by racial politics and polarization.

Can one imagine the relationship between the insured of private insurers and those of the public entity will be any better? Indeed, because so much money is involved, it figures to be a great deal worse.

When the candidate, and now President, spoke of "Change", we just assumed that it would be for the better. We appear to have been mistaken.

The Most Important Issue

[Connecticut newlyweds]

Real wages as a percent of GNP ( the workers' piece of the pie) have been falling for 30 years. Upward of 20 million American children have no health insurance. Most American schools have shown either static or declining educational results for the same 30 years. The nation is ever more dependent on imported oil. We are embroiled in two wars, one of which the "peace candidate" president last month in Cairo promised to extend to 2012, and the other indefinitely. The assets of most large American financial corporations seem to have mysteriously gone missing. Millions of people have lost their jobs as the economic contraction continues. The federal government is going ever deeper into an apparently unsustainable debt . We are ever more dependent on China and Japan for our economic survival. One is our global rival for world power and we have nuked the other. Iran is developing a nuclear weapon and long range missiles and has just re-elected Ahmadinejad.

Is gay marriage really the most important issue before the nation?

The Ballad of Rachel Corrie

[Corrie in Gaza burning paper replica of US flag ]

click on link :
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=368_1231135584


.

Today's Quote

[President of France Nicholas Sarkozy with wife Carla]

"It's good to be President"

.

Travel can be so narrowing

Jack writes:

I can't believe how many asians there are in this place. And everyone is eating and stinking of fish. You would think that I could at least find a decent fish taco, but noooo. Lots of rice but no refried beans.

At this point, even the Irish are looking good.

Jack is getting Oriented

Received this from Jack:

Because of the recent misunderstanding in Urumchi in which 197 or more people were misunderstanded to death, the Chinese government has closed access to Facebook and Google's Blogspot for now. The duration of "for now" has not been made public.

Could you post something on the Scenic Route blog and also on my wall in Facebook to the effect that I have not abandoned you all, but rather that I am momentarily indisposed.

Public Service Announcement

Hello All,

While making a Great Leap Forward, something backward occurred. I have not forgotten you but am indisposed at the moment.

More latter,

Jack

Machines versus Ladies

I was thinking of the way technology changes even our intimate social lives - curiously through the mediation of industrial corporations. In some ways it has been at the expense of women's competitive advantage over men.

When sex was dangerous because of the risks of pregnancy and death during childbirth, and of incurable venereal diseases, women did not consent lightly. Which gave them enormous leverage in negotiating consent. Pharmaceutical corporations now provide products which abate those risks to nil. And women's corresponding leverage of refusing repeatedly without the swain soon seeking greener pastures has vanished. Women have become free, but at the cost of their leverage over men.

Women used also to bribe with prepared food. Now frozen food sellers and microwave manufacturers offer the same. Women are free from having to cook, but again at the cost of their leverage over men.

At the beginning of feminism there was the issue of competing with men, and whether women could or should. Little did they realize that in some ways their real competitors would be corporations. To whom they are losing badly.

Alive and Well and Living in Gotham

The New York Times today -

Of course, Mr. Netanyahu has yet to endorse the two-state solution or even the road map agreed to by previous Israeli governments, which were not oral commitments, but actual signed and public agreements.

Curiously, Mr. Netanyahu says he has. I think what we have here is the Pravda of the Big Apple engaging in what is known in the reporting business as "a lie". On the front page.

My Day So Far

I have rented out my house to an Iranian wedding party for the coming week. When the house is rented I live in the mother-in-law 1 bdrm apt on the side. The Iranians were great. They even invited me to the reception.

AND THEN the main kitchen sink backed up this morning after somebody took a shower upstairs. I did all the denial moves with Drano before calling RotoRooter. The RotoRooter guy is Kennard. He has been here before and I have seen him work. He has a stammer but is an artist with the giant snake machine.

What freaks me out a mile is that the groom's father was looking forward to showing off his cooking by preparing a huge Iranian family feast for everyone. Instead he wound up having to call a caterer. For his son's wedding....

I feel like complete schmuck though there is nothing really I could have done differently, and Kennard did everything that could be wished. It was just bad luck but I still feel responsible. I am obviously going to wind up picking up part of the tab for the caterer which may cost most or all of the rental. Sigh.

LATER NOTE
Upon reflection I suspect there was something I could have done differently. A day or two earlier at Costco I decided to buy the fancy triple thickness toilet paper to add a tone of small luxuries and considerateness for my tenants. It is entirely possible that that led to the drain clog. Yet another demonstration of the maxim, "No good deed goes unpunished."

Replaced with cheap-feeling thin TP. Package says, "Septic tank safe" which presumably means that it is especially water soluble. A $340 lesson in label-reading.

Euclid Alone Has Looked On Beauty Bare

This is the kind of photography I want to learn how to do - to see abstractions in real life -

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=10091276

ABBAS REFUSES TO HOLD PEACE TALKS WITH ISRAEL

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Sunday his refusal to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu without preconditions, despite the Israeli leader's repeated calls for an immediate resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"Israel must recognize the two-state solution and stop all settlement activities in order to resume peace talks over final status issues," Abbas said. Netanyahu, who has called for "two states for two peoples," noted last week that Israel has "removed many roadblocks; we decided to increase the operating hours of the Allenby Bridge for more goods; and I've decided to advance a series of projects with the Palestinians to promote peace. But all these efforts can only bring us to a certain point, and the results will be multiplied a dozen-fold if there is cooperation from the other side."

Nuestro Negrito

[Jimmy Hoffa is alive and well and living in Honduras under the name Enrique Ortez Colindres]

My fellow crackers,
The Honduran foreign minister, Enrique Ortez Colindres, recently criticized President Obama, referring to him as "Ese negrito que no sabe nada de nada," which has been translated as "that little black man who knows nothing" or "that little black man who doesn't know anything."

I am so glad that the first public figure to blurt out something racist about Obama turns out to be a foreigner, not an American.

But it is an opportunity to reflect on the current situation of American racism. Much is written about the current condition other American institutions like education, medicine, politics, literature, and so on. Why not about racism?

The emergence of Barack Obama has been a pivotal development. In his persona he has involuntarily provided wedge issues for both sides.

The traditional position of black people to biological racism is that the races are biologically equal (in spite of copious visual and anthropometric information to the contrary).

The more modern "cultural pride" position involved wearing dashikis and talking about African heritage as though modern Africa were not a dreary row of post-colonial impoverished AIDS-riddled corrupt dictatorships.

One effect of the cultural pride position was to add a new link to the chain of euphemisms running from the post-civil war "freedman" to "black" to turn of the century "colored" to "negro" to "minority", back to "black". Collectively "ghetto" was borrowed from the Jews and quickly morphed to "community". And now "African American", with the attendant quibble about whether the phrase should contain a hyphen or not.

The notion was that African Americans were just another immigrant group like the Italian-Americans or the Polish-Americans (but unlike Irish-American - it was not pejorative). The difficulty of the analogy was that there actually was little or no heritage actually handed down from Africa. Indeed unlike Italy or Poland, Africa is a continent, not a country. A geographic description, not a national one. The difficulty was illustated by the Arthur Haley in "Roots" and the almost magical coincidence of finding recollection of Kunta Kinte on both sides of the Atlantic.

In fact, the people it is meant to describe is one that come into existence here in the New World, not in Africa. Like the Brazilians, the Mexicans, the Cubans, and indeed the Americans. The metaphorical nature of the expression was brought home by the rise of Barack Obama, an American whose father was an African.

African Americans were uncomfortable with Obama during the primaries because he clearly wasn't one of them. Their historical experience was the poorer areas of big American cities, preceded by rural poverty in the American south, and before that, slavery. Obama shared none of that.

That discomfort with Obama is shared by white traditional racists as well. Their racism is an inarticulate hostility to a servile class in order to maintain their own minimal social status. This racism was all about the bottom of the overclass resisting the ambitions and pretensions of a servile underclass. Obama is not descended from anybody who was ever a member of a servile class.

The Republican Party has attempted to recycle the image of the Uppity Nigger to its modern incarnation, the "elitist". This image has failed to gain traction because Obama is not an upstart (of which "uppity" is an illiteralism) from a servile class. He really is elite.

The traditional formulation of this kind of social superiority was, "Would you want your sister to marry one?" This has lost its teeth because now your sister would definitely be marrying up if she married into the Obama family.

One curious kind of racial privilege is about the use of racism itself. The word "nigger" is forbidden to whites because it is seen as fiercely racist and pejorative when used by whites. By contrast, "nigger" is seen as ironic or affectionate when used by blacks.

As it stands now the rule is asymmetrical and unfair. Blacks may say something that whites may not. I propose to take that back. There should be one rule for all.

I propose that whites should call each other "cracker". It should be ironic and affectionate. And we should make a great show of pretending to become furious and offended at any black who uses that word in any way at all.

When they are talking about someone else using it, let them call it the "c-word". Any black of any note caught using it in public should be fired from his position and be forever tainted and unemployable as a racist.

So, my cracker brothahs, we have to give up rollin' over to the man. When any mo' fo' African American be dissin' us as crackers, we don't have to take it any more. Organize and kick his ass out.

POSTSCRIPT
Upon further reflection, erecting our own magical 'you may not say it' word does not address the issue. It merely makes two stupid prohibitions instead of one. Better to just pull the teeth of the nastiness.

The solution is to expropriate the word. Whites, and especially Chinese, must start calling each other 'nigger'. It should be a friendly and ironic expression of affection and solidarity. That will eventually make the black-to-black meaning of the word its only meaning.

Yo' Harvey, how ya doin', nigger? Yo' Dave and Xiao, how you niggers doin'? Well, I hope. It will take a little getting used to, but we can do it. Yes, we can.

I am disappointed by Damien and Christy's ingratitude in not thanking me for formulating a new definition of the Irish. I have called them "a heterogeneous rain-and-drink-addled congerie of passersby".

In all fairness I think that is a far finer and more truthful description of the Irish than Damien's false and bigoted description of the Jews, "not a people".

More than you wanted to know about what I learned in school today

Harvey's friend (whose name escapes me at the moment, but Harvey will surely supply it) is a professor of geology at CSU Chico. At my request he recommended a textbook for me to read, "New Views on an Old Planet" by Tjeerd van Andel.

Too much to tell but I will give an example or three.

As you know plate tectonics is caused by convection of semi-molten rock in the mantle of the earth. This causes earthquakes and volcanoes at the joints between the plates. Less well known is what keeps the earth's core still molten after 4.5 billion years and powers the convection - the radioactive isotopes in the core. As they decay they radiate heat.

He shows by simple arithmetic and the half-lives of the main radioactive isotopes involved that the amount of heat generated in the past has to have been significantly higher than it is today. Which means that there was more convection in the mantle and that it was shallower than it is today. Which means that there were far more and smaller continents in the past than there are today.

Which means that ocean currents flowed smoothly around the planet and global weather had relatively small gradients with latitude - no ice at the poles and relatively mild weather at the equator.

With the continuing decay of the radioactives in the core of the earth the amount of heat in the core diminished, continents continued to drift, albeit more slowly, and became bigger. Recent developments, particularly the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama and the Suez Peninsula, have broken up the around-the-world ocean currents that kept climates equable as late as the mesozoic (loosely speaking, the age of dinosaurs).

These east-to-west currents in our era have been replaced by south-to-north currents caused by the fact that the earth has a glaciated continent at the south pole but none at the north pole. Van Andel says that cold water sinks all around Antarctica and forms seabottom cold currents that flow north. Sea surface warm currents flow south to replace the cold water flowing north , which makes a constant circular convection. There are regional currents as well, such as the Gulf Stream.

According to van Andel the cold currents from Antarctica, together with the shutting down of the equatorial currents, are the main determinants of climate and explain why the earth has grown so much colder and drier during the cenezoic (the past 60 millions of year - again loosely, the age of mammals).

[As an aside I should mention that this has no relevance to the global warming debate because the time scales are so different. Five thousand years of global warming might be more than enough to wipe out us and many other species, but would be too brief a blip to even show on van Andel's graph of temperatures.]

However the sea floors are not uniform. There are two major bottlenecks to the seabottom cold currents; van Andel calls them "gateways". One is west of Samoa, the other east of the Falklands.

If these were disrupted, the current flow would cease. The climate of the earth would be radically and fairly quickly transformed. Permanently, in human terms. Did I say "if"? Given what we know of plate tectonics, I meant "when".

Another gem -
He explains that the early biological and pre-biological processes that were the earliest history of life cannot take place in the presence of oxygen. But that those very processes generate oxygen. So why didn't early life poison itself by oxygenating the atmosphere and oceans early on and become extinct before it could evolve metabolic pathways that could use oxygen? What are we all doing here?

It turns out according to the going theory that oceans contain lots of dissolved iron and that continental rock contains lots of iron as well. Iron readily oxidizes in the presence of oxygen. So for more than a billion years, life got away with surviving because there was enough iron in erosion products like sand and clay and in sea water to absorb all of the oxygen.

Oxygen accumulated only slowly from 2 billion years ago to half a billion ya as the surface of the earth and the oceans began to run out of unoxidized iron. Since then there has been a rapid accumulation to more than fifteen times as much as when the earth was 90% as old as it is now and over a hundred times as much as when it was 80% of its current age. Which is to say, in geological times scale the atmosphere is going through a radical transformation RIGHT NOW.

Another thing -
There is no explanation for the composition of the rest of the earth's atmosphere. No theory to explain it works. (As of 1985 when "New Views" was published.)

Similarly, no theory explains why the oceans are not far saltier than they are.

And in closing, did you know that the sun evolves as well? It is 30% brighter now than it was a billion years ago, and twice as bright as it was when the earth was half its present age. No one knows how this may have affected life and evolution.

One speculation is that a dimmer, cooler sun would have produced less ultraviolet,which is mutagenic. But before there was oxygen was also before there was an ozone (Ozone is O3) layer in the atmosphere. Which means that though there was less UV, more of it reached the surface of the earth.

So one guess (mine, not van Andel's) is that eukaryotic cells (like ours) with their large, easily-disrupted genomes could not arise until there was an ozone layer.

"New Views on an Old Planet" is chuckabluck (chocablock?) with startling new things to think about on every page. By the way all, all, of this took place right where you are now*, among other places. Not far away. Right here. It is all still going on, right now.


*Unless you are in Ireland. Ireland has always been a stupid, miserable shithole where nothing good or interesting has ever happened.

Stevie Wonder's Tribute to Michael Jackson

in his own words....

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Think Globally, Act Legally

[Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra, the Richmond Superior Court, and me]

I am going off to do jury duty in a few minutes. The greatest likelihood is that I will sit around for a few hours and then be thanked and sent home.

In the movies, the juror who has gone to the trouble to take written notes is usually selected as foreman, so I am taking a notebook and pens. I would like to be on a jury, but it would be a huge pain in the ass if it conflicted with my going to China for the eclipse.

Curiously I find that I have no strong prejudices, as I would expect to have. I have no impulse to Hang 'em High, nor to sympathize with a youthful defendant facing a jail term. Which makes me a good venireman. (A venireman is a potential juror - only when the jury is selected and seated do 12 of the veniremen become jurors. The word has become obsolete apparently because 'venireperson' is thought ridiculous, in spite of being a perfectly good word.)

About civil cases, I do have a sense that insurance companies are moral sludge and it would be hard to find in favor of a corporate defendant against an injured plaintiff. But that is such a universal sentiment that it is grounds for instant mistrial to so much as mention insurance in a tort case. So there is not much prejudice that is out of the ordinary about that.

In any case, the greatest likelihood is that I will be sent home either this morning or this afternoon.

A Lesson in Values

[Roto-Rooter is my friend]

There is a line in the trailer for the movie, Project Valkyrie, in which a German officer opines, "There is no problem that cannot be solved with high explosives." The same could be said for money. Today the sink backup in the little kitchen became a sewer backup in the whole house. And this had to happen when there were paying tenants here, thankyouverymuch.

RotoRooter came out and the young man spent more than an hour excavating about a bushel of roots and attendant human products with a giant drain clearing machine. All the drains run freely now. I washed the hooey out of the toilet and shower stall. The sense of relief is as palpable as if the blockage had been personal. And it cost me nothing more than money.

Death and Disrememberment

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 10:38 PM, Burton J Abarbanell wrote:

Walter Cronkite

Patrick Swayze

Larry King

Barack Hussein Obama

Ted Kennedy

Elizabeth Taylor

Nancy Reagan

Andy Rooney

Mickey Rooney

Muhammed Rooney

Little-known detail from the life of Michael Jackson

[Art "Afro" Jackson]

It is not widely known that Art Garfunkel was a stage name. His real name before he changed it to his showbiz name was Arthur Jackson. He was the whitest of the Jackson 6 and the first one to make the crossover into mainstream. It is also not widely known that before the name change they were Simon & Jackson.

Though he was the brains and talent of the duo, because of rampant racism in the music industry, Jackson rather than Simon was forced to change his name. The rest is history. Sort of.

But Does Anyone Call Me Jack the Plumber?

I have spent a large part of the last several days decisively demonstrating four or five things that were not the cause of low hot water pressure in the upstairs bathroom. And making myself quite frustrated and unhappy in the process. Inanimate objects are just hateful.

It isn't sand grains in the shower head because I checked. In any case the cold water comes out just fine. It isn't a defect at the valve because I took it out and changed the washer. It isn't even a clogged supply pipe. Turning on the water with the valve out did blast out half a handful of small gravel but since it blasted them out, they weren't enough to restrict the flow. It isn't a clog in the riser to the shower head because the cold water comes out enthusiastically. The obstruction seems like it must be between the hot water valve and the tub spout, in the mixer. Unfortunately there seems no way at all to get at it from the valve side.

New tenants arrived from Canada an hour ago so I will not be able to work on it any further until they leave a week hence. The only option I have left short of having a plumber open the ceramic-tiled wall to cut out the mixer, is to unscrew the tub spout with a strap wrench or a pipe wrench padded with paper or cloth so as not to damage the spout.

Possibly I can work something in through the spout nipple to attack the obstruction. Or even take the nipple out so as not to work around two corners, only one. Conceivably I could suck whatever it is out with a tube connected somehow to a vacuum cleaner.

In the meantime, the tenants will have no hot water pressure to speak of for taking showers upstairs.

The whole thing has become what lesbians in Oakland used to call an AFGO. Another Effing Growth Opportunity.

Officer Needs Assistance

Shalom, Michael

But thanks for the 50 points!

More Amazing News from Wimbledon

[Dudi Sela and Jesse Levine, Wimbledon winners]

Dudi Sela, of Kiryat Shmona, has become the first Israeli ever to make it to the fourth round, the Round of 16. He is going to play the number 4 seed, Novak Djokovic, against whom his chances are slim and none. But until then he theoretically has as much chance to win as Federer does.

He is a local boy to me. The kibbutz where I lived in 1977, Hagoshrim, is in the rural area of Kiryat Shmona in Galil Elyon (Upper Galilee), near the Lebanon and the Golan.

If Jesse Levine wins his match, there would be two Jews in the Round of 16, one-eighth.

This is further proof that Jews are not only better-looking and better-mannered than the Irish, we are also better tennis players. Better tenants too.

Clearly a Relative

In an experiment of one, Dr. (former FDA chairman David) Kessler tested his willpower by buying two gooey chocolate chip cookies that he didn’t plan to eat. At home, he found himself staring at the cookies, and even distracted by memories of the chocolate chunks and doughy peaks as he left the room. He left the house, and the cookies remained uneaten. Feeling triumphant, he stopped for coffee, saw cookies on the counter and gobbled one down.

“Why does that chocolate chip cookie have such power over me?” Dr. Kessler asked in an interview. “Is it the cookie, the representation of the cookie in my brain? I spent seven years trying to figure out the answer.”

The result of Dr. Kessler’s quest is a fascinating new book, “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” (Rodale).

During his time at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Kessler maintained a high profile, streamlining the agency, pushing for faster approval of drugs and overseeing the creation of the standardized nutrition label on food packaging. But Dr. Kessler is perhaps best known for his efforts to investigate and regulate the tobacco industry, and his accusation that cigarette makers intentionally manipulated nicotine content to make their products more addictive.

In “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler finds some similarities in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.

Dr. Kessler isn’t convinced that food makers fully understand the neuroscience of the forces they have unleashed, but food companies certainly understand human behavior, taste preferences and desire. In fact, he offers descriptions of how restaurants and food makers manipulate ingredients to reach the aptly named “bliss point.” Foods that contain too little or too much sugar, fat or salt are either bland or overwhelming. But food scientists work hard to reach the precise point at which we derive the greatest pleasure from fat, sugar and salt.

The result is that chain restaurants like Chili’s cook up “hyper-palatable food that requires little chewing and goes down easily,” he notes. And Dr. Kessler reports that the Snickers bar, for instance, is “extraordinarily well engineered.” As we chew it, the sugar dissolves, the fat melts and the caramel traps the peanuts so the entire combination of flavors is blissfully experienced in the mouth at the same time.

Foods rich in sugar and fat are relatively recent arrivals on the food landscape, Dr. Kessler noted. But today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies “design food for irresistibility,” Dr. Kessler noted. “It’s been part of their business plans.”

But this book is less an exposé about the food industry and more an exploration of us. “My real goal is, How do you explain to people what’s going on with them?” Dr. Kessler said. “Nobody has ever explained to people how their brains have been captured.”

The book, a New York Times best seller, includes Dr. Kessler’s own candid admission that he struggles with overeating.

“I wouldn’t have been as interested in the question of why we can’t resist food if I didn’t have it myself,” he said. “I gained and lost my body weight several times over. I have suits in every size.”

This is not a diet book, but Dr. Kessler devotes a sizable section to “food rehab,” offering practical advice for using the science of overeating to our advantage, so that we begin to think differently about food and take back control of our eating habits.

One of his main messages is that overeating is not due to an absence of willpower, but a biological challenge made more difficult by the overstimulating food environment that surrounds us. “Conditioned hypereating” is a chronic problem that is made worse by dieting and needs to be managed rather than cured, he said. And while lapses are inevitable, Dr. Kessler outlines several strategies that address the behavioral, cognitive and nutritional factors that fuel overeating.

Planned and structured eating and understanding your personal food triggers are essential. In addition, educating yourself about food can help alter your perceptions about what types of food are desirable. Just as many of us now find cigarettes repulsive, Dr. Kessler argues that we can also undergo similar “perceptual shifts” about large portion sizes and processed foods. For instance, he notes that when people who once loved to eat steak become vegetarians, they typically begin to view animal protein as disgusting.

The advice is certainly not a quick fix or a guarantee, but Dr. Kessler said that educating himself in the course of writing the book had helped him gain control over his eating.
“For the first time in my life, I can keep my weight relatively stable,” he said. “Now, if you stress me and fatigue me and put me in an airport and the plane is seven hours late — I’m still going to grab those chocolate-covered pretzels. The old circuitry will still show its head.”

Reactions

"People love Michael Jackson," said Seth Casteel of California. "He touched so many people over the years."

I am not making this up.

"I moved out to California a year ago because I was inspired by him. It feels a lot more personal than it should, like a family member died. I'm more upset now than when my grandmother died."

Just wasn't that into grandma?

"Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low," said British foreign minister Miliband Tweeted.

Miliband Tweeted?

"He was my first love," said Alesia Crawford, 48, a dentist who lives in Wheaton. "I used to sleep with his album covers."

Too much information, Alesia.

"When I heard the news, " Dana Bullitt of Silver Spring says, "I cried and cried and cried."

Time to check your meds, Dana?

Sein Gesund

Wimbledon and the Jews

[Pete Sampras, whose record 14 Grand Slam championships is about to be eclipsed

For years British tennis fans have tortured themselves with hopes that the aptly named Tim Henman would win Wimbledon. Henman rarely got into the top ten in tennis, and never got beyond some frustrating come-from-ahead losses in the early rounds. He once got as high as losing in the semifinals.

But that is all behind them now. With Andy Murray ranked No. 3 in the world, and Rafael Nadal injured, their guy figures to have the honor of losing to Roger Federer in the final. It will be a big honor for England because it will be Federer's 15th Grand Slam championship, the most anyone has ever won.

On Gilda Radner's theory that It's Always Somet'ing, some of the English fans are not impressed with Murray because he is not one of them. He's from Scotland.

In any case, the British know nothing about suffering compared to the Jews. The Jewish strongboy from Boca Raton, Jesse Levine, is ranked 133rd in the world. He just beat an Uruguayan to get into the third round. There are 128 initial contenders, 64 reach the second round, so Levine is one of the remaining 32.

13 year old girl strip searched

The Supreme Court, in 'Safford Unified School District vs. Redding', has just held that a school district violated a 13-year-old girl's 4th Amendment rights when it had the school nurse have the girl shake out her bra and underpants for pills. The vote was 8 to 1.

How unsurprising is it that the one Justice who thought a public official checking out a 13-year-old girl's underpants was cool was - Justice Clarence "Pubic Hair" Thomas?

If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell and broke her right arm yesterday. The same day she was telling Israel, yet again, how the US will accept nothing less than a complete cessation of construction in the settlements including eastern Jerusalem.

“If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither...”

Nattering

I am twisted around the axle about the low water pressure upstairs.

I called a plumber who told me what to do to fix it myself. The first three things, clogged shower head, both sides slow, bad valve, were not problems. I was getting pooped from this and a dozen other errands, so I decided I would finish in the morning. I had turned off the hot water at the tank and there was only a trickle coming out. That evening I thought at first that there were fleas jumping out of the front room rug. Then I realized they were droplets spattering from water drops falling from the plaster ceiling. The trickle was trickling into the wall and thence into the ceiling below it and had been for hours. I raced, truly raced, upstairs and screwed the valve body back in place, (fortunately I had already replaced the gasket) and then re-assembled the rest of the valve. I turned the water back on but the hot water pressure is still minimal.

I would be ready to try the third thing he suggested, removing the valve body and turning the water on at full pressure in hope of flushing out whatever sediment or other crap is clogging the pipe. But I won't do that until I figure out a way to close the gap between the valve and the wall. I am thinking of stuffing it with vinyl valve packing material. But I am discouraged and have begun procrastinating doing it.

My task is complicated by my getting up at 4 am to watch the early rounds of Wimbledon until noon, then drowsing on the couch in the afternoon.

I watched the movie "Starship Troopers" on the tube last night. A special effects movie loosely based on the novel by Robert Heinlein, it preserved the author's constitutional scheme in which only military veterans can vote or hold office. How Heinlein's constitution would handle GI's-lite like G.W. Bush is not clear. Only combat vet's? Only Purple Heart winners/losers?

It also preserved his memorable line, "Most people wouldn't recognize civic virtue if they fell over it." Lots of good nightmare material for budding insectophobes.

I got around to getting the test results of my general blood tests in May. I am as healthy as a horse. A fat, elderly, out-of-shape horse, but a horse.

A Proud Moment

I had dinner with my nephew Craig Pena last night. I was about to write that he is a delightful young man, but he is 45, has grey hair, and is paterfamilias of four kidlets. He is also a teacher-administrator at a private school in Temecula.

He recently proposed that the school admit and sponsor foreign students, and promptly got stuck with arranging it. Foreign students have to have clearances from Homeland Security. So does the person who sponsors them - Craig.

When the Homeland Security gray-suiters interviewed him for the clearance, they specifically asked him whether he knew Jack Kessler. He acknowledged that I am his uncle.

The conclusion is inescapable. They have a dossier. I have a dossier.

I am a somebody at last.

Huge

[During the Carboniferous Era swamps had little oxygen in the water. So the plants decayed to ooze but were not oxidized to CO2. The ooze, compressed by layer upon layer above it, became coal and oil.]

Harvey's friend and neighbor (whose name Harvey will no doubt soon supply) is a professor of geology at Chico State. I have long wanted to learn geology since it occurred to me that I have spent all my life crawling around on the surface of the earth and figure to spend the rest of it doing the same, but have no clue what it is, how it works, how it got this way, and yada yada yada. So I jumped on the man for the name of a decent geology textbook.

I had read one before but it was for community college students. It was 'Mr. Wizard Explains Rocks to Dick and Jane' with lots of pictures in color.

Harvey's friend recommended "New Views on an Old Planet" by Tjeerd H. van Andel. I got it on ABEbooks (Advanced Book Exchange http://www.abebooks.com) which is one of the best websites on the web. It consolidates the inventories of hundreds of used bookstores across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, and provides a great search engine for finding things by title, author, subject, or keyword. One can find whatever one wants and for cheap.

Van Andel writes in a somewhat condensed form and though the book is short, it requires some paying attention to stay with him. Mostly it is on account of the things he is relating are so large, and in some cases literally earth-shattering, that it sometimes takes a second reading to get one's imagination around what he is saying. He also assumes you remember what he just told you so you will understand what he is telling you now. No Dick and Jane condescension.

As in, oh by the way, all earth's climate is primarily driven by the abyssal (sea bottom) cold water current flowing north from Antarctica. And oh by the way, that current has to squeeze through two narrow gateways, one off Samoa and the other east of the Falklands. If either or both of those gateways is either closed or widened by the effects of the seafloor spreading that drives plate tectonics, then the climate of the whole planet will change abruptly and permanently. Did I say "if"? I meant "when".

Van Andel bombards the hapless reader with bombshells like that one after another. Also, you know how plate tectonics has finally given us a comprehensive understanding of geology and it is all a nice tidy package? 'Tain't so. There are gaping holes in geology. For instance, even after allowing for discontinuities and this and that, most of the geological record that should be there, isn't. Also, given some well-understood and reliable processes, the ocean should be far saltier than it is. Where did the salt go? He gives a speculation about that based on seabed geothermal springs but in 1985 when he was writing it was still just a promising guess.

Most of all he makes a persuasive case that while we invariably focus on plate tectonics and continental drift, this is only because we are land animals. He makes the case, without specifically saying it, that the effects of plate tectonics on the currents and temperatures of the oceans is more important.

In the Mesozoic, loosely the Age of Dinosaurs, temperatures on earth were warm and much more uniform than today. Rainfall was high. There were no deserts. There were no ice caps. There were palm trees at the poles. 25 million years ago the landbridge between South America and Antarctica sank making the circum-Antarctic current possible. The Isthmus of Panama rose 6 million years ago and shut off the remainder of the warm equatorial current between the Atlantic and Pacific. The two together led to the current series of ice ages.

During much of the late Palaeozoic, loosely, very loosely, the Age of Fishes, there was a lot less land than today. Sea level was higher and much of what are now continents were archipelagoes in vast warm shallow seas full of reefs, plankton, and sargassum. We have scant examples of such seas in our world today. Which is why coal and oil formed then and are not forming now.

Van Andel is as always unwilling to sweep difficulties under the rug. Where did the additional water come from/where did it go? Today's polar ice caps, mountain glaciers, lakes, and rivers do not come even close to making up the difference.

My constant reaction when reading "New Views on an Old Planet" is, "This is huge! Why didn't I know this before?!" It is an important book.

Four More Years

[Still President]

I read that Ahmadinejad [corrected spelling per Damien] was re-elected President of Iran. I am bummed. Shi'ite!

The Election in Iran

[Il Duce and his mistress, 1945]

is on June 12.

There is an interesting article in today's Los Angeles Times to the effect that both liberals and conservatives have turned against President Ahmadinejad. The politically powerful Council of Guardians, i.e. the ayatollahs, formerly Ahmadinejad supporters, is supposed to have gone neutral.

The article proposed an image of Ahmadinejad as a radical populist, a Shi'ite Huey Long, an Iranian Mussolini. One hopes not. Neither left on account of losing an election. Long left office by assassination and Mussolini by lynching. One might say Benito stepped down because he was unable at the last to step down.

The problem with the LA Times article is that, like all pre-election predicting, it is hard to distinguish between analysis and wishful thinking.

The Iranian election matters hugely to Israel, the Middle East, the US and the world. Imagine how much nicer the world would be were there no threat of an Iranian nuclear holocaust.

I wonder if the nearness of the Iranian election was not some or all of the reason for the timing of Mr. Obama's 'New Beginning' speech in Cairo? Mr. Obama may be doing what he does best - campaigning. Having bested John McCain at it, he may now be running against Ahmadinejad as well.

How much better would it be for everybody, to deal with Iran not with sanctions and air strikes but with speeches and elections? If that is what is going on, then Mr. Obama's strategy morphs from a bold and risky new foreign policy to f___in' brilliant. Especially if it works.

Would Israel trade a settlement freeze for Iran not developing a nuclear weapon? Instantly.

They did emphasize how many languages it was being translated into... And, believe me, they did NOT rely on simultaneous translation. For sure, the translations were prepared in advance and vetted in detail. One guesses that the translation into Farsi, the Persian language, was near the top in care and effort.

The President of the United States making a conciliatory speech just before the election could make Ahmadinejad's truculence seem puerile and counter-productive to Iranian voters. One can hope.

The Cairo Speech

[Avigdor Leiberman, head of Yisrael Beteinu]

I had some deep apprehensions about the President's speech until I heard it.

There are only four words in the speech that count. Two are "settlements freeze" and the other two are "Road Map". I am content with that. He also gave US troop withdrawal dates for Iraqi cities and for Iraq generally. I did not see anything substantive beyond that.

Quoting "the Holy Quran", saying "Salaam aleikum", inventing some fake history, pitying the Palestinians, and praising Islam are good PR but don't change anything. Even sternly demanding that Israelis show more sympathy and generosity of spirit toward the Palestinians is a demand that can be met by the Israelis saying, "Okay, we promise."

The Road Map is Bush's policy. Most Zionists are comfortable with it. Among many others, Avigdor Leiberman, leader of Yisrael Beteinu and generally considered to the right of Likud, supports it. The freeze on construction in the settlements does no harm and can be reversed on any day of Israel's choosing except Shabat.

It looks to me that the policy change is the same as the change on negotiating with Iran. Before the policy was that we were going to hang tough and get some mollifying gesture from the other side before serious negotiation. The policy in both cases was "peace, but you make the first move." That having led to little diplomatic success, he has said, "Okay, we will go first."

The format for negotiations has changed. I don't see that there is any substantive change from the Bush policy.

On one hand it is a good speech. On the other it is 54 minutes long. But until you listen to it yourself, you will literally not know what you're talking about.

Here is a link to it -
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/NewBeginning/

How to Defeat the Sotomayor Nomination

[US Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jose Cabranes]

You heard it here first:
[Background - Part of Obama's strategy in nominating Sotomayor is that the GOP risks alienating Hispanic voters if they oppose her.]

My advice to the pack of lying scumbags calling themselves the Republican Party --

If you don't like the nomination make your own. Find a federal judge or even a state supreme court judge who meets the following criteria -
1. Hispanic surname
2. Appointed by a Democrat
3. Moderate or conservative
4. Ideally, a woman
5. Ideally, pro-life or ambivalent
6. Would accept the seat if it were offered

In every discussion of the Sotomayor nomination say that you wanted, say, Judge Gonzales, and were disappointed that the administration nominated a loser like Sotomayor instead. Talk up Gonzales constantly.

Every Republican should constantly mention the same Hispanic judge as the preferred candidate.

Use abortion rights as a wedge issue. Most Hispanics are Catholic and would feel more comfortable with an anti-abortion nominee than a pro-abortion one.

Make the nomination fight a debate between those who want Sotomayor and those who want Gonzales. Publicly claim that you have almost enough votes to confirm Gonzales and that the only thing holding up the confirmation is a handful of Yellow Dog Obama loyalists in the Senate.

Lose hearing in the ear on the side from which you are asked about the President's power to nominate.

Once the Sotomayor nomination is withdrawn you can forget you ever heard of Gonzales or continue to support him/her as suits one's purpose.

[What have I fallen to that I am hoping the Republicans will win something? Then again, what difference does it make which pack of lying scumbags one supports? There is no Change and no Hope.]

Blizzard of Lies

[Dave Frishberg]

by Dave Frishberg

We must have lunch real soon. Your luggage is checked through.
We've got inflation licked. I'll get right back to you.
It's just a standard form. Tomorrow without fail.
Pleased to meet you. Thanks a lot. Your check is in the mail.

Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Your toes and knees aren't all you'll freeze
When you're in it up to your thighs.
It looks like snow, but you never know
When you're marooned in a blizzard of lies.

Y0u may have won a prize. Won't wrinkle, shrink, or peel.
Your secret's safe with me. This is a real good deal.
It's finger lickin' good. Strictly by the book.
What's fair is fair. I'll be right there. I am not a crook.

Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Better watch your step when your old dog Shep
Can't even look you in the eyes.
You're cold and lost and you're double crossed
When you're marooned in a blizzard of lies.

We'll send someone right out. Now this won't hurt a bit.
He's in a meeting now. The coat's a perfect fit.
It's strictly fresh today. Service with a smile.
I'll love you darling 'til I die. We'll keep your name on file.

Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Marooned, marooned, marooned in a blizzard of lies.
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart.
And you're in for a big surprise.
When you're marooned, marooned, marooned,
marooned, marooned, marooned,
marooned, marooned, marooned, in a blizzard of lies.
A blizzard of lies.