east side blog

Change is Good

2010-05-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Jackson is really turning out some shots. This isn't new. I've seen his stuff for some time, and watched him work while traveling with him. He's had pics here before - this one is all time. Thanks and keep it up. My site is going through an upgrade, so it may seem a little sketchy - but continue, it will. Now, first the past to build the future.

The first major south of the year showed today – March 23, 2010. The buoys show it at 3.5 feet from 215 at 17 seconds. I watched low tide Drain Pipes this morning and it was quite a display. Ruler edge sets and rides over 100 yards down the line with no cutbacks. The boyz were ripping – seriously. I paddled out at Tiburones. Got a few bombs, but the bigger waves seemed to section down to the Gate. The inside in-betweeners had the best shape and I tried to focus on those; although I took some beatings from the outside sets. The swell continued to push over the next few days, but various factors conspired to tone down the potential. I can’t really put a finger on it – too much swell, too much west, too much kelp, too little tide, too much sand, too many people, too much time between sets, too few waves per set, too much wind – it was all too much fun. Anyway, as the swell died and the surf population expanded, it all disappeared only to reappear as a northwest groundswell with plenty of takers. In the mean time, I made the most out of some Segundo Bol and left over south that seemed to pulse every once in a while at Tiburones.

That was the past. More recently, we've had a mix of wind swell, northwest groundwater swell, and early south swell underneath. Surfed the same'ol and had fun every time. Hasn't been big, but it has been fun. Since the beginning of May, the swell has backed off - I mean it's flat - nada. The models suggest a south ahead, and given the track record regarding south swells showing on weekends, it's not too much of a stretch to predict a swell will show this weekend.

Shared interests? - "United States taxpayers are giving Israel roughly $3 billion each year, which amounts to something like $1,000 for every Israeli citizen, at a time when our own economy is in bad shape and a lot of Americans would appreciate that kind of helping hand from their own government." And, “We in Congress stand by Israel, we have a joint bipartisan commitment. No separation between us on this subject. In Congress we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel. Together we remain committed to advancing the peace process, preserving Israel’s security, responsible sanctions against Iran, working to finalize Iran sanctions bill right now.”

Those foolish Palestinians; what is the Arab community complaining about? I mean, how could anyone think the US is siding with the Israelis?

As I have previously stated herein, Olame-a’s presidency has been mostly lackluster in my opinion. I hear the fearsters talking about government takeover – socialism, but Olame-a has done nothing but entrench corporate socialism, ensured health care capitalism, propped up the financial sector, furthered the military-industrial complex, engaged in executions, excused collateral damage, and kept Israel in their rightful place next to god. It’s no coincidence that as natural capital disappears and countries decide that what natural capital is left remains in their control for their own development; the financial-corporate complex looks to the masses. Why not harvest the fear of illness and death – the population, I mean the natural capital, is getting older. Anyway, now to his credit, bama is turning to nuclear weapons – of course I’m not convinced it’s for the betterment of the globe. More likely it’s a ploy to leverage more pressure on Iran, but so be it – the intention is important. What need is there for nuclear weapons? Didn’t shock and awe convince everyone that major death could be had without nuclear fallout and global radioactive contamination – for thousands of years? Of course, as can be expected, there are those who insist we need to have nuclear weapons and we should use them liberally – or posture that way. And we need to make improvements – bigger? More poison? Wait – I know, green nuclear weapons. How could anyone argue in favor of nuclear weapons? But here is the real deal – our secretary of state: “And with this emphasis on our nuclear stockpile and the stewardship program that we are engaged in, that we’ll be, you know, stronger than anybody in the world, as we always have been, with more nuclear weapons than are needed many times over, and so we do not see this as, in any way, a diminishment of what we’re able to do.” Emphasis – more nuclear weapons than are needed many times over. Is this the neighborhood bully talking? Smith and Wesson? Mine is bigger than yours? This isn’t a threat, it’s a fact? Talk loudly and carry a big stick? We’ve gone nowhere.

Last Word:
The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself. –Archibald MacLeish, poet and librarian (1892-1982)

This blog has moved

2010-04-29T05:37:00.001-07:00

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First South

2010-03-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

The nexus of the spring equinox and first south swell of the season. The weather was beautiful and the water was clear. The tide kept the kelp thin and wind provided a light texture; and Tiburones was showing its south swell face. I surfed a good rotation with Rach. That's it. After a while, Esteban and Anthony joined in the fun, and just before I got out of the water, the Mayor showed up to keep in touch with his constituents. Really small rotation for the first south of the year.

Word from Gerry - our summer visitor from H-land - is that the south shore is going off - double overhead. Gerry surfed Threes, and given the exclamations in his email - must have been good. We should see the swell in a few days - served up by Cyclone Tomas.

Final Word
Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

Windy

2010-03-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

Spring-like wind swell has been a staple for 10 days, but things started to change today as a west-northwest groundswell showed. Surfed low-tide Second Bowl during the wind swell and ventured out at Sharks for the groundswell that showed today. Had fun with no adverse effects. As the swell momentum picks up – the mass count should rise – so be it. The kelp is definitely doing its part.

I’ve been watching maps that show a potential swell coming from the southwest. Apparently, the cyclone generating the swell is hammering Fiji – that is Cyclone Tomas - packing winds of up to 130 mph (205 kph) at its center and gusts of up to 175 mph (280 kph). Anyway, swell models suggest the associated swell may hit our coast with the first south of the year.

My latest photo upload shows the Zealand boyz having summer fun. The story that goes with the pics – James, a mate that stayed at the house for a few months, and the rest of the boyz decided they wanted to catch a shark while shore casting. Unfortunately, they could not cast beyond the ledge that allowed access to deep water, and sharks. So, James, being a problem solver, volunteered to swim the bait out beyond the deep-water ledge and drop hook, line and sinker. As he was swimming back, the boyz hooked-on. Yes, our hero dangled the bait beyond the ledge so his mates could have a good time – what are friends for?

Health care in the USA is money – shareholders – growth. With these come fundamental problems that clash with the government’s constitutional responsibility to “insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare.” Enough said. But the back and forth between supporters and detractors is revealing – it opens a window into the real government. Check the statement from the Whitewash – referring to the “public option” – “there isn’t enough political support in a majority to get this (public option) through.” Now consider the poll data:

“Creating a government-administered public health insurance option to compete with private plans" - 2/17-18/10 – 50% favor, 42% against, 8% undecided.

“Creating a public health insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private companies" - 2/12-15/10 – 51% favor, 48% against, 1% undecided.

Seems there is a gap between the “political support” and the majority of voters – Let me postulate that the gap is corporate influence. In other words, voters don’t weigh in as much as corporations.

Last Word - I really think the discussion in this country needs to consider the words of a former president -

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945)

I Confess

2010-02-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

The weekend saw good sized surf, nice conditions, and all the people in the western states. I surfed short sessions, got a few nice ones and bailed. Today, the swell got small and the surf session was local. But - I just couldn't fit in - I couldn't groove with everyone else. I had to burn the Burner. Ranger, I confess. I don't know what came over me - it was like DYSM took control of my mind and body. I did ten Hail Marys but I still don't feel absolved.

Final Word:
"Bigmouth strikes again, and I've got no right to take my place in the human race" The Smiths, 1983.

It's On

2010-02-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow the Mavs contest is slated to occur. Much fanfare, a lawsuit, and hopes for good conditions and big surf. While it's a facet of surfing, I'm not that intrigued. Don't get me wrong - I respect what the surfers accomplish - it's just that for me, the fun factor is not proportional with size. Anyway, here in town it looks like the swell will wrap in and provide some fun surf - over the weekend. It was nearly flat for the week prior, with the last swell showing on - you guessed it - the weekend. And it is fortunate for all those folks who live for an xtreme weekend. Just a note for Penguin, took another surf trip to the Gate and caught a couple of fun ones. Just like old times - your favorite. Well, we've seen storms come and go, and the kelp is still matted as thick as ever; entrenched as cockroaches. Still, some great waves to be had at the right spots - Jackson was there and snapped the picture above.

Next Up: In September 2008, as the worst of the financial crisis engulfed Wall Street, George W. Bush issued a warning: "This sucker could go down." Realism at it's best - and I kinda miss it. Today I heard Olame-a state that he doesn’t begrudge the million-dollar pay-outs made to two of Wall Street’s most powerful men because, after all, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that.” Fuck You - If a high-priced baseball player - say Derek Jeter - does not perform, he's dropped. The government doesn't provide him with 20 homers and gold glove stats to see him through. He works hard, fills the stadium, and helps his team win - period. These bankers failed, got propped up by Corpgov, and then through virtually no effort or creativity of their own, received mega payouts. It's an insult to the ball players to hear this comparison of free-market values. And then this: "I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system." What free-market system is he talking about - Corporate socialism? Success? These guys lost billions of investor's money - retirement savings for countless who relied on them - they fucked up - blinded by easy profit and greed, and then got rewarded for success? SPB.

And on the foreign front - Lawyers for five Blackwater guards say they were acting in self-defense, but witnesses and family members of those killed maintain that the shooting on 16 September 2007 was unprovoked. Brought to justice in the US; District Judge Ricardo Urbina said the US justice department had used evidence prosecutors were not supposed to have. Blackwater employees escaped justice and a defending lawyer's statement celebrates: "It's tremendously gratifying to see the court allow us to celebrate the New Year the way it has, it really invigorates your belief in our court system." I am left wondering what belief he has in our justice system – moreover; I wonder what the Iraqi families who suffered losses are thinking. There is a lot of wonder - Ordinary Iraqis are left wondering at the apparent double standards of a legal system, which could pioneer rendition, imprisonment and torture based on far less evidence, but fumble a case like this.

Health care cost about $7,681 per person in 2008. Taken at face value, this means that even a single-payer program would require each American to pay $$$$. It’s clear changes in health care would have to be more encompassing than what single payer would bring. Hard negotiation leveraging a single payer market, associated innovations and moderation on costs - who knows - I understand the Japanese model contains some lessons.

At his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a three-year freeze on non-security federal discretionary spending. The Pentagon will be exempted from the freeze, as will the Department of Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. The freeze would cover many domestic areas, including education and the environment. This is scary news – military state with no educational opportunities except if linked to the military. Essentially, lets build a castle and live in austerity and ignorance while the world moves on. This guy is a fucking joke.

I understand there is a group here in the state that wants to legalize carrying loaded guns - why? I heard it said-

“Only a man who carries a gun needs one” Angel and the Badman - 1947

Longer Days and Shorter Nights

2009-12-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

Indeed, the days are getting longer, and so it seems the kelp is too. Since I last scrawled my observations on this web log (we blog), there has been a mixture of storm surf, double-up ill-wind mixed with groundswell, and straight up groundswell. As expected, the swell has traveled from the west, west-northwest, and steep north. Out in front, we've had overhead waves at the TOP down to head-high and smaller from the Steps to the Gate. For my part, I have indulged in the glide at Tiburones and full-DTL at Segundo Bol and larger Tiburones. Pretty much -JTH. I am starting to get used to the kelp; the last two sessions have been low tide kelpfests at Segundo Bol. During one of those session I discovered reverse tow-in. Yes - all natural. Here's the deal - Paddling into a low tide kelp-ridden peak, the kelp elongated perpendicular to the wave. You know what I mean. I stood up, and was dragging my hand behind me. As the wave started to fold, my hand found a thick strand of kelp that just so happened to be nearly taut. I don't know why, but I grabbed onto the kelp strand and held on tight. Tension gripped the kelp strand as it pulled on its anchor, and it stretched. The combination of the tension pulling back and the wave moving forward swung my board around so that I was set for a run DTL. The tension and stretch of the kelp strand, location of the kelp anchor, and my position on the wave all acted to provide a whip effect - when I let go - and as luck had it, at the optimal moment - I was whipped DTL. Closest I'll ever come to feeling the whip at the end of a tow rope. I'm sure the kids can advance this concept and add the kelp whip to the air launch and get a couple more feet. And its all natural.

The cliff stabilization project has come to the Steps, and no matter what the speculation is, things will change. The picture shows one of the losses. The steps carved into the sandstone by countless meanderings of surfers past and present. Who walked in these casts? The foot-carvings speak of a long history of formation - they were gone in 30 minutes. The path forced you to move on one step at a time. Change does the same.

Just as fast as those foot-holds were gone, I lost my father. He fell off a step stool while hanging Christmas lights and that was that. Again I was reminded of our fragile existence, what we have, and what it means to lose it. Hot Dog, you know what I mean. I was sure he had another 20 years in him - but it was not to be. I was taught as a child to pray, and I know he would want me to pray for him. But lately, religion has made me tired. My faith is worn out; all I see screams of its control and darkness, but he would want me to pray. Positive thoughts – I will put my energy into positive thoughts. We hoped for a miracle in recovery; but the miracle was his life. Today, 16 December 2009, I was married 31 years ago. Today, my father died. I spend the days thinking back over his life, as I knew it – but it doesn’t happen all at once. Without trying, a memory will flash into my mind, dwell there for a while, and disappear. I guess at some point the total sum of our time will be revealed; spotty, but providing some resolution.

The Senate passed a bill that essentially mandates that all Americans buy private health insurance. It provides subsidies to some of them, but to a large number of Americans who are quite poor and will have difficulty buying these products, it essentially forces them, on their own, under penalty of law, to purchase health insurance. This sounds like corporate socialism with citizen capitalism. Government created market demand (socialism benefiting corps) – people must buy at rate set by corporations (capitalism benefiting corps) – prices not set by market demand (socialism benefiting corps). And remember, there is no competition between insurance corps (socialism benefiting co). They’ve just agreed on how to split up the pie. Wall Street investors and the health care industry leaders – and all that pie. All those SPB that fought to be free from government run health care will be forced by law to pay the same Wall Street folks that bilked them out of a future. Enron, Banks, Wall Street – and no end in sight – good luck all. Gee – if we are going to have socialism in the mix, why can’t it be for the people instead of the corps? Like the fire department – they respond to corps and people alike. Fire protection and police protection is socialized – single payer – and it works pretty well. Does anybody recognize the similarities with what could be single payer health?

And - since October 27, when independent Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he would filibuster any healthcare reform bill that included a public option, the stock value of CIGNA has jumped 29 percent; Aetna, 27 percent; UnitedHealth, over 20 percent; and Humana, almost 14 percent. During that same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by just over two percent. What does this say about the health care bill – proves my point. It’s all about corpgov.

Some numbers for the decade:

Millionaires in the Senate: 30 (1999); 67 (2009)

Millionaires in the House: 66 (1999); 170 (2009)

Median Household Income: $44,900 (1999); $50,303 (2008); in 1999 constant dollars $44,900 (1999); $38,924 (2008)

Defense Budget: $270.5 billion (fiscal year 1999); $680 billion (fiscal year 2010); in constant 1999 dollars $270.5 billion (fiscal year 1999); $524 billion (fiscal year 2010)

Last Words of the Year - you got all year to think about 'em.

Going Forward: : "These are desperate times. But I don't think we should join in with the desperation. We should conquer it. I'm fed up with this depressive attitude people have." - Morrissey

And Our Time: Jobs reduce people. One of our lines goes 'I've never had a job because I don't want one': jobs reduce people to absolute stupidity; they forget to think about themselves. There's something so positive about unemployment. It's like, Now We Can Think About Ourselves. You won't get trapped into materialism, you won't buy things you don't really want..." - Morrissey

Have a brilliant 2010!!!!!

Tea Leaves

2009-12-10T00:30:00.000-08:00

I read the tea leaves, and as a commenter said - I was dreaming. All right, I was wrong about the swell – I heard late Tuesday it was well overhead and conditions were nice, but I have no hard evidence. I checked today, and it could have been all time – except for the east wind scallop. The pics as my witness.

In other news: Democracy Now reported - “In Honduras, a prominent supporter of the coup has won the nation’s presidential election. Porfirio Lobo, a rich landowner, received 55 percent of the vote. The election comes five months after the Honduran military ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. The leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and other Latin American countries say Sunday’s presidential election is invalid because it was backed by the coup leaders and could end any hope of Zelaya returning to power and completing his term, which is due to end in January. But the United States has vowed to recognize the results.No pro-Zelaya candidate ran Sunday due to a boycott of the elections called by Zelaya. Human rights groups reported widespread abuses by the Honduran military and police ahead of Sunday’s vote. In the city of San Pedro Sula, soldiers used water cannons and tear gas to break up a march by 500 unarmed protesters. On Saturday, 50 masked soldiers and police raided a collective of farmers and small scale agricultural producers known as Red Comal.” This is important because what you have is the US supporting land grab. And who knows, maybe provided support. The US is not happy with the way things are going in Central and South America. Democratically elected governments in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Ecuador, to name a few, are taking back natural capital from international corporations and going socialist – considering the people in the economic deal – everyone’s welfare optimized. This is real significant since the indigenous people of these countries have been the butt-end of capitalism since colonization. I am suspicious of US intentions given corporate ties and the ease of which the US accepted a military coup and supposed election. It works out great for corporate agriculture, wealthy landowners and the like. For me, it lends credibility to accusations by leaders in Venezuela and Ecuador regarding US ties to right-wing groups active in trying to overthrow the elected governments in their countries. How does land grab fit into neoclassical economics? Consider - Two U.S. corporations—Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Company and United Brands) and Dole (formerly Standard Fruit and Steamship Company and Castle & Cooke)—hold a disproportionate amount of the country’s agricultural land.

The Obama administration has decided not to sign an international convention banning land mines. What could possibly be the explanation? Can’t deal with nuclear weapons, nor can we deal with indiscriminate killing. Pussies. There is no change. Obama – change you can believe in? All I see is a change of color.

Neo-classical economics, the flavor of policy over the last five or more decades, pushes the free market and zero regulation/intervention. Keynesian thought includes regulation – the magic hand may eat itself. Now, why would those who are firm neo-classicals, Bernanke and Geithner, go in for regulation? Yet, they were the ones in charge of regulation. Check it: “We don’t really need new rules. The rules are there. What we need are regulators willing to use them. The Fed has all the power it needs. And the very fact that Chairman Bernanke yesterday was listing all the good things they had done proves that they had the power under existing laws. He just didn’t want to use them. Tim Geithner, as head of the New York Fed, could have done whatever needed to be done, but they didn’t do it.” So, why would those who firmly believe in the market apply regulation? They won’t – they didn’t. And the punch line – they are all still manipulating the puppet strings.

Hey – spill, baby spill. Officials believe that ice plugged up a pipeline and likely caused a rupture that sent 46,000 gallons of crude oil and water gushing onto snow-covered tundra on Alaska's North Slope late last month. More worries - I mean No worries. Anytime you hear somebody say technology has reached a level where the environment is safe from human endeavors – just say no!

Did get some surf up until Sunday - couple fun ones at Tiburones and Segundo Bol, but came down with the sickness and missed the epic swell I was touting. Serves me right.

Last Word
"I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top." John Cipollina

Swell Prediction

2009-12-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the swell model at the link Pacific Swell Model on the left. Significant west swell predicted in about 6 days. The picture is a reminder of what things may look like.

Balance

2009-11-24T00:22:00.000-08:00

Which one is it - the nightmare or the wet dream? Probably a little bit of both on any given day. Just like anything else - balance - Some days I find it. Most days I don't.

The latest push for peace in the middle east - On the Israeli side, Clinton has indicated that they have eased Palestinians' freedom of movement and expressed a willingness to curtail the building of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian areas – translated: business as usual, so what do the Palestinians gain in negotiating – keep reading. The Obama administration, however, is demanding an end to all new settlement construction, something that the Israelis have refused – sound familiar? After her meeting with Abbas in Abu Dhabi, Clinton was headed for Jerusalem for talks that were expected to include not only Netanyahu but also his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Here is the punch line - Lieberman suggested recently the Israelis and Palestinians come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure stability, while at the same time putting off a final deal. Notice – “long term deal” and “putting off” – how long has it been already, and what will change? Game plan: in the long term the land grab will be complete and the Palestinian Reservation system established. I mean, check this statement - Lieberman has recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes in the conflict — "to a much later stage." Why not just say it – “later”.

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended. How does this definition compare and contrast with the mission statement for the US? That mission statement reads: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Lets look at each objective of the mission statement.

Form a more perfect union. Sounds socialist just saying it. Of course, a perfect union suggests equality – equal access to resources and benefits of those resources; access to health. My wife and many like her would say a perfect union means sharing – at least with respect to marriage and the family. On the other hand, some argue the market will create the perfect union and there is no need for government to be involved in creating a perfect union – i.e. regulate access to resources and benefits of those resources so that the welfare of citizens are equally enhanced. How so? Self-interest and the profit motive can better protect from market excess (move away for the perfect union) than regulations. Self-interest, profit motive, and perfect information will allow citizens to maximize their welfare. Thus, no need for socialism to force the issue. Two points of view, and the Constitution allows for that. Some think government is necessary to secure welfare for all; some think the invisible hand of the market will secure welfare for all. More likely, aspects of both schools of thought are necessary to form a more perfect union. The need for security, safety, and health are reasons for forming a union. Working together to accomplish what one cannot do alone is another reason for forming a union. Trade to focus skills and enhance the welfare of market participants – under the umbrella of the perfect union – secure, safe, and healthy.

Establish justice. We have equal justice for all – or so it is said. Publicly administered and equally allocated. Socialism. But wait – how does the market, self-interest, and the profit motive fit in? Some judges are elected (the invisible hand at work), there is a wide gap between the skills and motivation between public defenders, district attorneys (future politicians), and market-based lawyers, and the administration of justice varies with wealth. What would seemingly be a pure socialistic aspect of government is tainted with the finest aspects of capitalism. For the wealthy and corporations, it is socialism; for the rest it’s capitalism.

Insure domestic tranquility, Provide for common defense, Promote the general welfare. These all seem to be flavors of socialism. The government of the people, the perfect union, working to provide the benefits of tranquility, common defense, and general welfare to all its citizens; equal access to tranquility, common defense, and general welfare; definitely tastes like socialism. To provide for tranquility, common defense, and general welfare, the government – local, state, and federal – through our tax dollars (definitely socialism) provides police, fire protection, the military-industrial complex, social security, medicare, and parks and sanctuaries to name a few – there’s more. In further support of this notion, consider a capitalistic approach to the provision of tranquility, common defense, and general welfare. I guess with tranquility and general welfare, the capitalistic approach is top gun in the US (health care debacle), but what about a level of defense you can pay for – the invisible hand optimizing your welfare. You call the police, and they ask for your dreadit card number – or you call fly-by-night security – or you hop down to the Home Depot to pick up a day laborer?

Secure the blessings of liberty. Is our liberty a function of the socialist nature of the US, the capitalist nature, or both? Let’s look abroad. France, we are told, is very socialist – do they enjoy a lower level of liberty? Like anything else – it’s a balance of socialism and capitalism that seems to work. Those that like to have it in black and white need to go natural – check quantum mechanics, fuzzy logic, and fractals – it’s just not that way.

Regarding renewing the peace process, the Prime Minister of Israel stated the Palestinians never before entered into negotiations with a precondition (freeze settlement building). The response, from the US: “What the Prime Minister is saying is historically accurate.” So fucking what – now the Palestinians are looking after their interests? And this coming from the kings of preconditions? So, if we are getting into historical accuracy, lets look at it in total. Lets start with the concept forwarded by the Zionists that there was nobody in Palestine when they started taking over. So now, the US says - "We recognize that things have stalled. We're looking at a variety of ways that increase the interaction between the parties in some form." Gee – why not be an honest broker and call it like it is – like the rest of the globe sees it. Otherwise, forget it.

It’s been flat except for a small long period swell that filled in for a few days during the first week of November. The weather was sweet, and if you could surf in the narrow window between tide and kelp, there were some fun ones. I couldn’t swing the window, but caught the peripheral period just as the window was closing. Took my new-used LB for a glide – a hand-me-down from Kid-darrio. The plank rides real stable and I got some fun tip rides that ended too soon in shallow closeouts. Fearing I would be taking a trip to Ralph’s after an encounter with the bottom, I left before my thirst was quenched. Rumors of a swell from the northwest abound, and the swell model shows there will be a steep swell by the weekend. With the Cold Water in town, it may be possible to get some waves before the masses get finished with their pro fix. While I haven’t ventured over to the Lane to check the proceedings, pictures and video I reviewed verified there was some serious ripping going down.

A much-anticipated swell started to show on Friday, November 6, 2009. The swell had a good westerly component on Friday, so the Steps and the Cave had some good shape, with head-high sets. Most of the boyz I spoke with were still looking to Saturday for the “big swell.” Well, sure enough – 18.6 feet from 305 at 17 seconds – mixed for most of the day with a high tide that peaked above 6 feet. It’s a beautiful day with a moderate wind out of the northeast – just about offshore. A lot of water is moving down the point and the waves at the Steps and beyond are oriented almost sideways to the coast. My plan is to wait for the tide to start sucking out, and catch it at about 4 feet and falling. We shall see.

Well, everybody on the planet had the same plan – dude, seriously. I wasn’t out but 30 minutes when I turned around and there were a hundred guys in the water. From Tiburones to the Gate there were a hundred guys. I mean it was hundreds of guys. It was all too much for me and I quickly started looking for a way out. I took off on an inside bowl, but was thwarted by four guys in front of me – I went straight – and then went straight into the beach. Wow – I didn’t know that many people could fit in the ocean.

In fact - The US is the only industrialized democracy that does not ensure that all of its citizens have health care coverage. However, Washington spends vastly more on healthcare - both per person and as a share of national income as measured by Gross Domestic Product - than other industrialized democracies.

A new report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates sea lions ate 4,960 salmon and steelhead during the spring of 2009 — 2.4 percent of the fish passing the dam located near Cascade Locks, Ore. That compares to an adjusted estimate of 4,927, or 2.9 percent of the run, in 2008. We are down to counting the salmon run loss to natural predators in the thousands. Think about that. Back in the day, before dams and with open waterways, the sea lions probably didn’t even make a dent. Sea lions, birds, bears, osprey, eagles, raccoons, native tribes, and more – there were plenty of fish. Salmon season has been closed for two years for SF Bay salmon, and sea lions are a problem in the Columbia River. Maybe we are better disrupting natural processes than putting them right. And we worry about the sea lions. There’s more – “a report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that removing the sea lions doing the most damage saved some 1,655 salmon. Department spokesman Rick Hargrave said the hazing and removal of California sea lions will continue next year with few changes. One difference will be trying to block areas near the dam where the sea lions can get out of the water to rest.” Wow – 1,655 salmon saved – impressive. Reminds me of the successes boasted by the “war on drugs” folks. Indeed, why change what works so well. Merge the two programs - Drug and Seal Enforcement Agency - DSEA.

Sunday, Cold Water Classic Weekend turned out to be the most crowded I can ever recall. I bagged Sunday after driving by the Point and seeing half the human race tipping the coast of Santa Cruz a couple inches lower into the Pacific, and twice that many rising the surface water elevation. Fortunately, Monday dawned with smaller waves and less humanity by orders of magnitude. I surfed Segundo Bol and got some fun ones. Thank goodness people have somewhere else to live.

“A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics has found that 237 members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body. California Republican Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker with a net worth estimated at just over $250 million. At least seven lawmakers have a net worth greater than $100 million.” Now, is this representation? Does this lend credibility to the phrase “Congress is out of touch”? Unfuckingbelieveable.

Again, I consider the preamble the mission statement for the US government, and I use it as a first principle to argue that one of the purposes of government to assist in health care. I believe that some brilliant people (founders) took quite a bit of time preparing a mission statement to guide their endeavors at the time, and the endeavors of future citizens. Very simple, and yet very powerful. And the link to health care - consider the words: Form a more perfect union - a group of people free of the burden of worrying about health care can more easily work toward being a perfect union. Establish justice - is it not justice that all citizens have equal opportunity to obtain health care? Insure domestic tranquility - Can one be tranquil when one is stressing over health care, worrying about financial consequences, or left at the whim of insurance corporations where profit is considered over human beings? Good health is tranquility. Promote general welfare - the health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group - the definition says it all. Finally, secure the blessings of liberty - health and security of health is liberty - liberty from worrying about health, liberty to consider other endeavors, liberty from pain, liberty to live. In all, five out of the six objectives (common defense not necessarily relevant) in the mission statement pertain to the government's responsibility in health care.

Surf started to show Wednesday out of the northwest. Surfed the Steps just after high tide and got some fun ones before masses and kelp shut down the fun. Thursday, it was more of the same – a few waves and plenty of my friends. Surfed one down to Tiburones and stayed for a couple. On the paddle back from a small wave that took me into the cove, I looked up into the sun and saw what looked like the style master cruising toward me, but he looked a little rusty – like the tin man after a rain. I kept my eyes on him, and sure enough – it was the tin --- I mean style master. You know, life gets a little busy, the winter breeze isn’t so conducive, and there are plenty of chores to do around the house. So, you skip a couple days. A couple days turns into two weeks, and next thing you know, you forgot you surfed. You see your quiver, go by the Point, hear from the boyz, or, my gosh, check the Internet, and then remember – I surf. To verify this realization, you paddle out – but it’s not easy to dust off the cobwebs, oil the joints, find your rhythm, or find that lost step. The crew checks your first couple of waves and even they get caught wondering if you surf. You realize that if you don’t pull it together quickly, you will be crossed off the list – the list we all keep regarding our mates – you know – ah, he can’t surf, I’m going – that list. Anyway, while you appear rusty, the crew gives you the benefit of the doubt, and you end up pulling it together before you leave the water. As you walk up the beach, you remind yourself you need to get out more often – but shit, it’s getting a cold. See ya in the water Tin Man.

And the great economist said, “I no longer belief the myth that self-interest and the profit motive can better protect from market excess than regulations.”

Took a glide right before dark – it was all right, if not for the kelp – but Willie saw perfection in the glassy conditions and I took it at face value. Today, I got a quick Segundo Bol session in. Tide was coming in and a couple of sets got pushed through. It was fun, but even at the higher tide, kelp was an issue. A couple of rippers were out, but it was more inspiration and less a lockdown of the lineup. One of the rippers – compact and powerful, was, as usual, taking off 10 yards outside of my position, and even if I thought he wouldn’t be able to paddle in – he did. My gosh – I’m impressed. But, that didn’t stop me from considering what popped into my head as a perfect nickname for him – Longboard. Yes, he rides short boards, and rides them very well – but he’s like an LB that takes off 20 yards outside of where your sitting, paddling feverishly by you while you watch the bowl pass you by. Longboard – I nickname you with all due respect.

Final Word:
What is money? Go here and learn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8&feature=fvw

Backyard Pop Art

2009-10-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve – part of this economic story – deserves a look. Their main functions: conducting the nation's monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates; supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation's banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers; maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets; and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system.

Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects. But – there are twelve regional privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, which divide the nation into 12 districts, acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors. The Federal Reserve has never been audited. Dude, seriously.

“Insurance companies aren't playing nice any more. Their dire message that health care legislation will drive up premiums for people who already have coverage comes as a warning shot at a crucial point in the debate.” The solution is easy; public option or single payer will bring insurance companies to the place they should be – service – to paying customers, not stockholders and executives.

“Netanyahu, for his part, has demanded the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state — a demand the Palestinians criticize as upping the ante from previous negotiations. The Palestinians say it would discriminate against Israel's Arab minority.” Not just recognize a state, but a Jewish state. The backyard test: how would Americans take it if the majority of Christians in the US decided that we must be recognized as a Christian state, or Western Anglo state, or some other designation that leaves out some portion of the public and forces their allegiance to something other than their country. How about trying to skew the population of one of the states so that it is Christian only and is officially recognized as the Christian State of Whatever. Is it reasonable?

I eluded to war debt as being an aspect of the close of the Dutch Golden Age. The economic burden of repeated wars caused the Dutch to become one of the most heavily taxed peoples in Europe. Taxes were imposed on the transit trade in and out of the country. But as mercantile competition became stiffer, the rate of such taxation could not be safely increased, and the burden therefore fell increasingly on the consumer. Excise and other indirect taxes made the Dutch cost of living one of the highest in Europe. Sound familiar – Iraq, Afghanistan, support of Israel?

As I said, one problem with single payer or a public option is the “grasshopper and the ant” syndrome – I’m healthy and don’t use my insurance, but the slacker down the street, who doesn’t take care of himself uses more than his share – why should I pay for someone else’s benefit? Well, the latest health bill from the senate doesn’t change that situation. First, people must realize that they pay for everyone else anyway you cut it – but single payer cuts out corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit – a public option also works to limit corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit. The latest health bill requires – via fines – for everyone to buy health insurance – so, just as in the single payer model, that person who stays healthy subsidizes those who do not – and they subsidize the corporate overhead, executive pay, and profit. In fact, the corporate coffers would be stuffed with input from a young healthy population that is forced into the corporate system. Note the corporate concern: “Before the Finance Committee approved its bill, senators reduced the fines uninsured people would have to pay. The insurers argue that means many young, healthy people would remain uninsured, driving up costs for everyone else who purchases insurance — a conclusion that analysts generally agree is valid.” So – we don’t trust the government plan – instead, we trust the same folks who brought us the savings and loan crisis, Enron, military industrial complex fraud, mercenaries, sub-prime and other financial instruments, corporate socialism, and way more we know nothing of.

Surf showed up after the storm, and so did the blight of sediment. I let things sit one day – probably a worthless gesture – and paddled out Thursday. A fine day – balmy – and the surf was fun. Close frequency west-northwest swell, chest to head-high, and the rippers were all over it. Segundo Bol was a little too much for me, and I quickly rode waves down past Tiburones – a surf trip to Privates. I told Penguin about this secret spot, but he wasn’t impressed and has held it against me ever since. Anyway, the travel paid-off and I got some fun surf without the pro-effect. I saw the boyz getting ready to have another fun day in the sun today, but it was my fate to travel even further south.

Tonight I write from LA. I took 5 down and came across some interesting advertising. Apparently, congress has caused a dust bowl in the valley – at least that is what the continuum of roads signs stated. The wind was not blowing hard – and the dust was not swirling, although I have seen it pretty bad before. Instead, it was just that good ’ole Central Valley smog. Other signs regarding water were also visible along our Central Valley journey and it became apparent a water war is brewing. I think the war is between humanity – agri-business – and all other life that depends on water, like salmon, steelhead, waterfowl, and amphibians – a whole host of beings I know nothing about. I do know the salmon-business folk and the agri-business folk would have a lot to talk over. As I passed through the Valley, signs blaring, I thought about what it used to be like - uncontrolled waterways and wet lands, an aqueduct? – what flowed to the valley stayed in the valley. Grizzlies, salmon – I don’t know, but my imagination suggests a nexus of natural factors caused the occasional dust storm – Congress? Today, the Central Valley is mostly a manufactured landscape – producing unbelievable quantities of food – but sustainability? – Sustainability that includes the natural environment that use to work to reduce dust? A sustainability that includes the other beings on this planet is not in the equation. The road signs make that obvious. Onward and upward – dipped into the San Fernando Valley and it hit hard – the air quality is a joke. Bros and pros, please rejoice about where we live – the air quality, the small space enclosed between the mountains and the ocean, good surf, Redwoods, beautiful weather, the fact that we run into one another in the water and in the community – oh my gosh, I can always run this list long when I am away – especially in a place like LA.

Gee – here is an interesting fact - The total Wall Street welfare bill according to Nomi Prins, the author and former Morgan Stanley managing director, comes to more than $13 trillion. That's about 37 years worth of total welfare transfers to low-income Americans.

Surf has been fun the last few days – Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We’ve had swell from the west-northwest and from the south-southwest. The west-northwest swell was 5 to 7 feet at 12 seconds; the south-southwest swell was 2.5 to 3 feet at 14 to 20 seconds. The numbers turned out to provide real fun, well shaped, surf, and the weather held – great fall surf. I surfed the Steps, Segundo Bol and Tiburones. I saw Goose charge a Tiburones Bowl – top to bottom – and underwater. He came up and started paddling back to the line up, and I, seeing the whole tamale, paddled over to riddle him. I found out he did a take-off dance with a young women and ended crossing her path at the nose of her board. Hence, the straight-off Adolph move. I thought it was just a full-kook maneuver, but he redeemed himself. Later in the session, I was able to talk with the young woman and inspect her board. The damage wasn’t too bad given what I witnessed, but I recommended she should take her board in to limit water intake. In a story that made me feel for her, she told me it was her only day off and she was riding a new board she had won, and the board had Tom Curren’s signature on it. Gosh – I told her about Ralph and let her know he would fix it and make it look like new – sorry Ralph – I may have set the expectations high. Later, she found me in the lot and got Ralph’s card from me. Swell model indicates a significant west swell for Thursday – oh boy.

Well – the swell continued – switched direction to west-northwest. Got some fun high tide waves a Segundo Bol and was ready to come in with that “good session vibe”. It was starting to get crowded as the tide emptied and the line up filled. I was sitting a little inside on the bowl shift – and it seemed I had a little space of my own. I was kind’a basking in the late afternoon sun waiting for a shift wave I knew was coming. I heard the jockeying around me but it still seemed far away. A wave was rolling through at the top of the bowl and I just pushed forward as the swell passed beneath me. Then – a thick shudder rifled through my board. “What the fuck?” I turned and got an eyeful of some idiot who had just punched through the wave into the bottom of my board. I flipped my board over and sure enough – just about punched through to the deck. Well – I went ballistic – veins throbbing at my neck – and a tidy string of slurs, expletives, and the lot. As my attention was turned toward thrashing the offender, JH chimed in letting the offender know that a trip to the ATM for $80 would can the situation. As I considered JH’s comments, the wile offender made his way toward Sharks. As luck would have it, an inside shifter was coming my way. I paddled hard and caught a racy wall down toward Sharks. It ended with a slap off the Sharks left and in seconds I had caught up with the board slammer. I called him in and completed his thrashing with the walk of shame. As we walked up the beach we passed several of the boys getting ready to begin their session. Each one asked about my board. I presented the evidence and pointed to the perpetrator who was hanging his head, “that idiot” I pointed out. Hot dog was the last to admonish the perp at the top of the steps. In the lot, I handed him my card – “send me the money, be honorable, or…” We shall see. I left the lot and immediately paid a visit to Ralph – now he’s got two of my boards.

Today the swell looked good at high tide, but when I went to join in the fun, I was greeted by low tide groveling. It was a beautiful evening, but the swell was moving on and the crowds weren’t. I ended up grabbing one good one before going in – “one good bottom turn” as Charlie used to say.

We are fighting terrorism in other parts of the world, but more and more, I recognize terrorist right here in town. A young boy was murdered in gang violence – and it came home – my son knew the boy from high school. It’s not the first report of gang violence this year, or last year, but it was close enough to feel. I read the letters concerning the event in the Sentinel and considered my own feelings. The letters spoke of fear – fear in walking alone, fear of certain areas of town, fear for children – and frustration – and helplessness. Fear, frustration, and helplessness – the definition of terrorism. I suggest that laws and funds that were made available in the Federal and State effort to combat terrorists and terrorism be applied at the community level to combat gang violence. In essence, we have a terrorist problem and should be eligible for State and Federal funds for resources to combat the gang violence and we should use terrorist laws to investigate and prosecute gang violence – lets not close Guantanamo Bay – lets send convicted gang terrorists there. The guys confined there now are model citizens compared to these idiots – I mean even those at Guantanamo that actually did fight Americans were fighting for their community against invaders. These gang terrorists are terrorizing their own community for no reason other than selfish bloated sick ego. Dude, seriously.

Final Word:
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006

Fall to Winter

2009-10-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

It’s October, but the wind and water temperature say it’s deep winter. Surfed what was probably the last south swell of the season, and battled wind, tide, cold and kelp to do it. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday had a steep south, about 180 to 190 degrees, lapping our shores. The result - a few fun waves at the Steps, El Segundo Bol, and Tiburones, long waits, a narrow window between super high tide and the mid-tide entrance to kelpville, and more long waits. But the waits had benefits. The time was well spent by the Ranger and others in the lineup to develop a new wetsuit design. Imagine a wetsuit that can double as a board bag, sleeping bag and blow-up doll. A great travel companion.

It has been flat for a few days - super flat. And the first major storm of the season is slated to arrive Tuesday. I spent the weekend battening down the hatches, picking fruit, and watching Gio play futbol. The weather feels like winter tonight, which makes it difficult to feel the baseball mood - but the playoffs are on. Snow during a baseball game?

Another shot of Gio's work - the eye - caught the eye of the sheriffs. A little portion of the abstract paint job could be seen over the fence as you drive down the street. So, I get a letter from the sheriffs informing me that there is graffiti on my house, and that such graffiti may incite more - and there goes the neighborhood. In addition, the sheriff's letter informed me that there is a graffiti abatement program whereby volunteers would come and paint over the graffiti at my house. Dude, seriously. I also included some more summertime photos of Fullers.

Regarding unemployment and US industry - “If we're going to import items like wind turbines rather than to build them here, it's highly unlikely that our tepid recovery is going to create anything close to full employment. That's because our policies are still geared to the grand laissez faire experiment that sunk our ship. That failed folly had three parts: 1. Deregulating finance to promote "financial innovation"; 2. tax relief for the wealthy to promote "entrepreneurial activity/investment" and 3; unfettered free trade to boost profits by moving production to where labor is cheap and environmental regulations lax.” The author brings up a good point – what do we produce? An economy does not live by finance alone. We cut trees, sell the environmental capital, and call it revenue. We produce good science and research, but at the rate which students turn to business and avoid science and engineering, this production may be threatened. What else do we produce? Agriculture – we are strong in food production – but do we import all the tools and amendments we need for that production? Cars and trucks? Wait, I know – global military industrial complex. We export more military wares than any nation on the planet – by a long shot. War and conflict are good for business. Ultimately, finance produces nothing. Finance facilitates production, but it does not produce – and to the extent the purpose of the finance is to make profit from no production, finance follows production and moves to where it can optimize profit; hence, production overseas. Similarly, investment of the wealth – finance – follows the path of highest profit – at the expense of US industry. Someday, as the quality of life increases throughout the globe – beating back the forces of finance that wish to keep pockets of the globe available for high profit production – the cost of production will be the same everywhere – then, production will return because profit will no be no higher elsewhere.

This idea of a nation of finance has an example in history – the Dutch Golden Age. The accumulation of capital in enormous amounts caused a demand for productive investment opportunities beside the immediate reinvestment in the business. It also necessitated innovative institutional arrangements to bring demand and supply of investment funds together. Apparently, war debt was one of the major factors in bringing the Golden age to a close. More research into the Dutch Golden Age may be informative.

Closing Word:
One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)

Fall Rushing

2009-09-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

Beginning of the third week August 2009 – We have endured nearly a two-week flat spell presented on a platter of nice weather. We are also five days into a fire in the mountains. It’s been really smoky; cigarette smokers are getting it for free. The conditions have been great for fishing. The other day, I witnessed a striper fest in the fishing hole at the Steps, and the day before I checked in with a pro who had turned his pro efforts into producing a halibut for dinner. The maps indicate a swell showing toward the latter part of the week. We shall see – the rumors are starting to brew – and the masses are pressed with the end of the summer near.

I have reflected on the health care debate, and while I am relatively well taken care of, I know many are not. My neighbor needs a kidney, and gets dialysis every other day. He has insurance through his wife, and although he tells me about many possible transplant opportunities, they always end in the insurance monitors requiring more testing. For those with less clout, this situation is probably the norm – not so for Jobs. If I didn’t know any better, I would think the insurance company is just buying time until the inevitable death – and elimination of a liability. What I am really concerned about is who or what is behind the misinformation, lies, and fear tactics aimed at keeping the status quo. It’s clear that a small group of people/Corpgov is making policy for all. If they can control the outcome in the debate of healthcare, and thus the course of this democracy, what else is on their agenda? For example, how do they get away with this fabrication – many Britons were surprised to read a recent editorial in the American newspaper Investor’s Business Daily. The editorial stated, “People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.” Hawking was in fact born in the UK and has lived there his whole life. The paper was forced to run a correction. Hawking said, “I wouldn’t be here today if it were not for the NHS.” Besides the scary part of outright lying, the American SPB believe it – regardless of the media retracting their statements. I mean, for a large segment of SPB, O-lame-a was born in Africa – in the face of a governmental agency validating his birth in the US.

The “ant and the grasshopper” syndrome and single payer health care. The fable concerns a grasshopper that has spent the warm months singing away while the ant worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food is only rebuked for its idleness. Many people in the health care debate feel that others will benefit while they will not use what they input into a single payer plan. Their hard earned wages will go to provide healthcare for some lowlife single mother working at McDs who got knocked-up out of wedlock and wants to get an abortion instead of having her sixth child. It’s just not Christian.

Confucius said, “What you do not want done to yourself do not do to others.” Unfortunately, many adhere to some other way. Consequently, there are various laws, regulations and policies that attempt to force people to live as Confucius suggested. Let us consider the insurance debate. First, how do we translate Confucius into Corpgov speak? How do we equate individuals with Corpgov? The courts recognize Corpgov as an individual, but really? For example, Corpgov really doesn’t mind getting sued by the individual – most of the time they can scare individuals off with an escalating budget for defending their wrongdoing. And if it comes down to it – the cost of a settlement is much less for Corpgov; in fact, it is cost effective and allows Corpgov to extricate itself with no admission of guilt. And how about Corpgov socialism and individual capitalism? In both examples, Confucius translated into Corpgov speak is “Do what we want to others, others bear the consequences.” Now, apply this to the latest health care proposal – let’s have an industry fee to help pay for covering the uninsured - as O-lame-a said, insurance companies must share accountability for the troubled system. Sure. We already pay for the uninsured through taxes and covering overhead for insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals, and other medical service providers. Any fee faced by an insurance company will be passed right on through to consumers – so add insurance company fee to the overhead costs just listed. Are we to believe the proposed fee would be subtracted from the profit? Sure.

"They [financial crises] are all different, but they have one fundamental source," Greenspan said. "That is the unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue." I do not think the science of economics learned a thing from the latest test results.

O-lame-a’s speech to congress – worthless. Any of the ideas being tossed around now will just increase the wealth of Corpgov at the expense and well being of individuals. Health for profit does not square. I’ve heard, “why should government get involved, it’s not in the constitution.” Indeed, what is government for? Back to the mission statement: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. This is the preamble to the Constitution – it is part of the Constitution – the guiding principle. Please take note - promote the general welfare, insure domestic tranquility, secure the blessings of liberty, establish justice – are these not elements of health care?

No surf in weeks. Weekend saw weak wind swell at waist high at the Point – over 300 feet of critical length at the Hook alone. Took the LB out tonight – wayyyyyy small nose-ride-closeouts in chilly water. Keep trying.

This week, a combo of west-northwest swell mixed with south swell to provided solid head- to chest-high surf at El Segundo Bol and Tiburones. And even though we had a flat spell before the recent flurry of surf - the wait wasn't that bad. Of course we complain about no surf the minute the surf disappears. Heck, we complain when we have to wait 15 minutes for the next set of bombs. As seems to be the norm, the swell and unruly crowds show on the weekends, but some week days still have soul. For my own part, I've stayed out of trouble. Ask the Ranger.

Art Work: Gio interior decorating

Last Word:
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)

Fogust

2009-08-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

July 23 – the buoys indicate the swell is building – 2 feet at 14 seconds from 205 at Harvest, 1.8 feet at 14 seconds from 200 at Monterey, and 1.4 feet at 14 seconds from 200 at Point Reyes. Similarly, the anticipation of the “big swell” is rising as the Internet informs the masses. As usual, the swell is supposed to show on the weekend. Meanwhile, I’m headed off to Lake Tahoe for my niece’s wedding; I’m sure you guys won’t miss me.

July 25 – beautiful day at Lake Tahoe – and I received a text message stating the following: “the waves are FIRING”. Enticed, I checked the buoys. 4.3 feet from 195 at 17 seconds – yes, these are the right numbers. Hope you guys are having fun – I am. Home the 26th - surfed the evening session - I didn't recognize anyone in the water and the crowd was unruly; and it was even worse on Monday.

Surf picked up yesterday – August 2, 2009. I ushered in the swell with a LB session at Tiburones with Willie - great LB prospect with good vibe. Today got the SB out and raced a couple at the Cut-Away. Wow, Terry, Rene, Willie, and other notable LB rippers were out – but they let me have a few. Boyz – lets keep the critical length in check.

Today, August 10, 2009, the latest week-plus of south swell has abated. It was yet another good pulse with an equally good direction. Surf ranged from waist high to overhead, and that same wind-blown high tide window I utilized during the last swell came through again. Ask Rach-el – we shared a narrow window with a few of the crew and left smiling. Water was nice, and for some reason, the fog didn’t realize it was Fogust. I surfed Tiburones almost exclusively, with a few days of 2nd Bowl. I admit, there were a couple of days where the critical length was beyond the upper limit, and the operators were dreaming. Nothing was more spectacular than watching Buddy T-bone an unsuspecting novice going straight. I was paddling out after catching a slider at 2nd Bowl, watching up the line. Buddy was on his Taky in trim going as fast as the glide would take him. In front of him, some woman took off, transitioned from her knees into a stinkbug stance, and was heading straight for the beach. Without even trying to slow, Buddy took her out – Rugby style – Ronnie Lott in his heyday. The woman was lifted a few feet over the water surface while her board and Buddy’s made love – surfboard intercourse. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The woman appeared unscathed and left the water – probably went straight home. Buddy went to the beach to regroup – the Mayor was entertaining in the office. I took my next wave in just for a quick interview. “Buddy, what were you thinking?” “I don’t know” A quick look at his board revealed an absence of a side fin and cracked FCS plugs. Maybe it was like what happened to me the other day. Health insurance?

It’s the accumulation of all the drop-ins, paddle-arounds, and interference presented by limited resources, too many people, and too little experience. You snap – and it might not have been the most heinous infraction of the day. So it happened to me when a local kid, who should have known better, dropped in on me while I was speeding down the line at the Cut-Away. I let out a “what the heck” and he replied, “this is a longboard spot.” That sent me into a full over pressurization of the gasket – in other words, I blew a gasket – I went ballistic – I blew a fuse – I opened the hatch. “WHAT?” I spouted as I went slack-jawed. “You’re yelling at a kid,” he calmly stated. A minute ago he was my equal in the water telling me I was surfing a LB spot on a SB – what an idiot, then he’s claiming child status. I paddled back to the bowl bewildered. Rick was sitting on his board chuckling. Fuck!

Picture it: Thank you SB and friend for the look. The advertised swell at Fullers - a magic place - a south swell magnet. Redwoods and cliffs, a steep hike, and a small creek empties into the water right in front of the break. A geologic-scale landslide created the reef. Back in the day (1976?), a spring storm dumped a load of 2" x 12" lumber off a barge and a bunch washed up on the beach at Fullers. The carpenters among us built a deck that straddled the mouth of the creek and looked out over the peak. One side had a 45 degree leaning wall for sunning, there were benches all the way around, and a nice set of wide stairs led from the beach to the floor of the deck. The creek flowed beneath the deck and at the rear of the deck was the waterfall to rinse in. It was a cool spot for a summer –the following winter waves wiped it from existence.

Condensed Conservative View: We had thought the role of government was to set rules for honest private competition, which does keep prices down and improve products (What a joke – look at the economy, the corporate scams, Enron, banks, savings and loans, militaryindustrial complex, silenced whistleblowers, Blackwater, no-bid contracts – the list is endless). And there are reforms that could improve the important rule-setting role government should play, and could increase private competition and transparency (Transparency – novel concept, never happen because an informed public would get rid of the lot – except for that portion of the informed public that conform to SPB) .

Instead, the socialists want to create a massive and unfunded new entitlement that would limit patient choices, ration care, and bankrupt the Treasury (A. Many countries have government organized health care and do fine, B. the militaryindustrial complex is taxing the treasury, along with corporate socialism, C. choices are limited and care is rationed – what can you afford, D. unfunded? – I’m going to pay one way or another – now, I pay Blue Shield, Wells Fargo, taxes directed toward social services, Longs, pharmaceutical companies, medical services providers, and doctors – gee, is there any room for savings, and E. imagine the leverage a united public would have). The Democrats' plan would force everyone into the system through an individual mandate and lead employers to drop their health coverage (As an employer, I’ve seen coverage increase 30% a year – I used to pay the full health care amount for employees (10 years ago – now we can’t afford to and keep rates competitive); their new public insurance plan would then price private insurers out of the game and attract the refugees from private coverage into the public system (so fucking what – the leeches and mosquitoes can die). All of this would put us well on the road to government-run health care (so fucking what?). Clearly the point is to use the power of the government (the power of negotiation where the American public is represented as one huge heath care recipient union) to impose price controls and override state rules in order to undersell private insurers (why the fuck not). The public plan is a gradual path to single payer health care, aimed at moving American health care in a European or Canadian direction (so fucking what). "The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers (I do not need a choice of leeches, mosquitoes, or tics – they are all the same – looking to suck blood)," the AMA said, and the requirements of such a plan would severely burden doctors (force them into a market place where they get paid a reasonable rate?) and "would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers. (Corporate socialism isn’t, world military isn’t?)" Government financing of coverage and for the rationing of care such a move would require (on what basis? Rationing? What do insurance companies do). There are many other strong reasons for stopping a plan that would cost at least $1.5 trillion, create a huge and growing new entitlement without paying for it (who said no one would pay for it – what do we pay for now – we spend the most on health care of any nation, and we have some of the poorest health), impose great financial burdens on employers and individuals, displace millions of families who are happy with their existing health care arrangements, lead to increasing rationing of care, and do very little else to control health care costs (fear mongering).

A lot of hot air misinformation and fabrication; how can anybody make a proper decision? Why are we kept in the dark? Where is the thoughtful analysis of all alternatives that focus on the people and leaves FedCorp behind? Profit is all that matters - "Their average profit per person may not be as high, but they still should be able to earn a profit by insuring more people."

Someone called me on my lack of comment regarding the erosion out-of-control along the point. True. In fact, I’m feeling pretty rolled over concerning a great many things. Locally – gang violence, school funding, elected officials gone wild, business over people, water, habitat, and – over fishing. State – budget madness, IOUs – can I get paid – the governor and legislature is. Federal – O-lame-a, more war, corporate socialism – public capitalism, health flare, money for guns, and unconditional support for Israeli ass holes. I am angry, frustrated, and disillusioned. That said – I have recently crawled into my hole – surf, work, family and friends. Lets see how the stabilization pans out – as long as it does not cause reflection, it surely will not mean the loss of sand movement. In a few years, it will all be forgotten, and only us old timers will reflect on what used to be; like many other things. But wait – the more I thought about it, the more I saw the whole thing in terms of land grab – an extension of the primitive accumulation of wealth.

For me, land grab encompasses a whole host of activities that both the state and individuals are engaged in. Land grab is usually focused on gaining resources (wealth) or some strategic position that provides control and power over the masses. Examples abound throughout history. Take for instance the Mexican – American war. Really just a pretext to take Mexico’s land and gain access to resources and the Pacific Ocean (strategic). Of course, the Spanish took the land from the native peoples – and we really do not fully understand who took what when North America was inhabited. How about the Iraq war? Was it just a pretext to solidify our claim to oil and/or westernize the Middle East and create in our own image of consumerism? In the case of the cliffs, land grab (resource grabbing from the ocean) was instigated by private entities that had already accumulated (home owners and businesses that count on the existing environment for wealth and accumulation of wealth) and the state (interest in tax revenue – a resource). These two are powerful allies when their interests are aligned – just as is the case in many land grab affairs – the state and private entities - Corpgov. The results of this land grab will include stability of bluffs and property values, stability and likely increases in property tax revenue, easy access for the masses, increased tourism and associated chamber of commerce delights, parking meters, refugee rats, loss of vole habitat, a change in the view from the water, possible enhancement of wave reflection back into the lineup, and….Maybe you can think of some other consequences. As far as the migration of sand, I’m not sure. Does the ragged nature of an unstable bluff environment help to trap sand as it moves along its coastal migration patterns from water basin to the ocean?

And the health care industry is behind reform – why? More consumers. It's all got to do with shifts in the economy. Even before the recession hit, employer-sponsored health coverage had been steadily shrinking, and many people couldn't afford the premiums for individual policies. Meanwhile, government programs have been expanding — and they've gotten increasingly friendly to private insurance companies. Insurers now play major roles as middlemen in Medicare, Medicaid and the children's insurance program. And if the government requires everybody to get coverage — just what the overhaul legislation calls for — it could guarantee a steady stream of customers subsidized by taxpayers not only for insurers, but also for all medical providers.

The party that wants to keep going - drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical supply firms, health service companies and other health professionals. Hey – I know we can’t have a Corpgov insurance program because it will run the insurance companies out of business (oh fuck!), but don’t the people in government – like senate and house folks – get a government health plan? I don’t here them complaining. I remember something about Corpgov offering the same program they themselves get. Now I hear silence.

All Time?

2009-07-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

June 29 2009 – the Cut Away and other structure at the Point were on fire – 5.3 feet at 11 seconds from 320 with 2.7 feet 14 seconds from 205. Got some great waves, and watched some great surfers. It was very good.

And here we are into the first week of July, and other than a couple days of LB-sized opportunity, the south has continued in the chest to head-high range non-stop. Dare I say it – “all time” – So far this summer has been “all time”. I think. I mean, what is “all time”? Surf all the time? Best surf in a long time? And what about the shape? I’ve been surfing the Cut Away and it’s been as good as it gets – outside and inside, down the line, square a turn – I was paddling back out, slowly so I could scan the potential of a set of shifters. I turned on one and thought about it until I saw Noi tracking fast down the line – then, perched along the backside of the wave, I saw Noi throw a 20 yard floater – the only way to make the section – and he did – it was “all time”. And the left – “all time”. I surfed an evening session – at about 8:00 pm, a couple of guys and me, and the sets were pouring in. All of us in rotation – paddling back out and watching overhead sets reeling into the cove. I stopped, threw my hands into the air and let out a primal scream of stoke – I couldn’t believe it. Folks in their backyard on the cliff yelled down at me, “are you ok?” Oh my gosh – I was ok – I got home at 9:30. July Fourth was another surprise – it seemed everyone was celebrating – they weren’t out surfing and the south was pushing. Just a few of us – even Townsend was going right. When I left, the tide was pushing in and the sets were still coming – only two guys on First Bowl – since when?

07/07/09 - “All time” is fading into “once upon a time”. Yes – the south seems to be taking a breather, but no complaints. It was good while it lasted. It seems the Monday after the Fourth of July weekend was the day all those who don’t surf holidays decided to splash. The crowd was way larger than over the weekend, and much more agro. I ended my session looking over my shoulder and keeping my distance from the multitudes of unknown LBs who were as unskilled as their leg ropes were long. One LB was swinging like a Kung Fu chain weapon and caught me in the calf – I’ll be limping a few days. Well – summer is not over.

LB today – the glide was great for a change, but I don’t want to make a habit of it quite yet. I peeked at the southern hemisphere and it looks like two pulses of south are in the making. We shall see. Anyway, my last glide and eventual make for the straight got me in trouble. When I sat down to take the white water in the ass, the foam ball picked up the back end of the LB and drove the nose deep six inches. I held on while the board pivoted on the reef – Ralph – Help me Mr. Wizard.

I've got nothing else to say - surf's been great, O's looking same ole' - I still can't get past the fuss over making the insurance companies compete with a lower cost alternative - drive them out of business? Maybe they could try harder - like the rest of us. Or the hostage relationship with Israel. Or holding prisoners found not guilty. I'm just a consumer, nothing else.

Hey Penguin - it's a riot - even Hot Dog is out of hand - he and his band on condiments.

Pic: ad for my axe - picked it up in 1969.

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Longest Day of the Year

2009-06-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

I am back from a trip to Sacto; I had to go to get a break from the consistent south swell that showed for two weeks straight. No - not really, going to Sacto is always lame, but the south swell part is true. Starting June 3 - the south ramped up and stayed in the overhead to chest high region. On the 13th day of the swell, the buoys read 4.6 feet from between 185 to 215 at 17 seconds. The direction was choice, and all points were firing. The Cut-Away was really fun for the whole swell - I mostly showed up on the higher tides as the wind peaked. The window offered good waves and a smaller, more experienced, crowd. Today - it's small and crowded - back to normal. It was a good start, but we're owed more.

Notes From the Field -
The second week of May begins, it’s Mother’s day. No surf today and none in near-sight. No worries. It was a beautiful day, and moms all over deserved our attention. More than anything women attend to – motherhood is the foundation of life. Like water.

First we’re told that a government health care plan could doom the insurance industry – no tears here. But in a swift move to revive the blood-drained patient, realizing that if the patient dies the blood will no longer flow, the insurance industry has offered to slow the profit train – pockets bulging - hospitals, insurance companies, drug makers and doctors plan to tell Obama they'll voluntarily slow their rate increases in coming years – one wonders why the rates increased at the rates they did – It’s plain to see. Rampant greed feeding off the fear of bad health and possible catastrophe – you must have health insurance. Now, when there is a possibility the gravy train will end, when lobby money will no longer stop the common masses from realizing their constitutional right “….domestic tranquility and the general welfare”, the insurance companies insist they can help – let’s be reasonable. The bullshit is all time.

Check the news flash - “The industry groups are trying to get on the administration bandwagon for expanded coverage now in the hope they can steer Congress away from legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years. Insurers, for example, want to avoid the creation of a government health plan that would directly compete with them to enroll middle-class workers and their families. Drug makers worry that in the future; new medications might have to pass a cost-benefit test before they can win approval. And hospitals and doctors are concerned the government could dictate what they get paid to care for any patient, not only the elderly and the poor. There's a sense among some of the groups that now may be the best time to act before public opinion, fueled by anger over costs, turns against them.”

But wait – “Healthcare industry leaders are now claiming President Obama substantially overstated their pledge this week to reduce costs.” Regarding single payer – “It’s widely acknowledged a single-payer system would put insurance companies out of business, because they wouldn’t be able to compete with its cheaper costs.”

And more news: The Pentagon budget for secret operations is now larger than the entire military budget of Britain, France or Japan.

President Barack Obama declared Wednesday he would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners, abruptly reversing his position out of concern the pictures would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and endanger U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gee, I’m sure the fact that Obama thinks the pictures would inflame, and one’s own imagination, brings the combustible material and oxidizer into the explosive range. Hey man, nice shot.

“The plan would achieve Obama's goal of universal health coverage through a regulated insurance market. Insurers would agree to significant concessions such as not charging more to people with pre-existing conditions. In return, they want to quash a government-run insurance plan that Obama supports beacuse of fears the plan would put private insurers out of business.” The concern over the putting private insurers out of business – why?

“It’s like living in an ant hill.” Like cattle at the feed trough, consumers kept alive for corporations to feed on. Just enough work, but not too much; just enough free time for consuming, but not too much; just enough thought, but not too much….on and on. They need us to consume, some production, not much thought.

There are five different clusters of definitions used in the Supreme Court's case law on corruption. Each of these clusters understands the problem with corruption--the essence of the threat that it expresses--as different. The clusters can be loosely described as gravitating around these concepts: criminal bribery, inequality, drowned voices, a dispirited public, and a lack of integrity.

I would have to look back and see if I wrote anything regarding surf. That is because I cannot remember the last time I surfed anything over waist high. The glide has been a great during the interlude, but how about a week of something over waist high.

June 3, 2009: Surf starting to show from the south, 2.2 feet at 14 seconds. Long waits, cold water, wind, and kinda’ lined up, but it was great to be on the SB once again. The swell maps indicate there will be swell from the south for a few days – of course it looks like the swell will be at its biggest during this weekend. If the mid-week is any indicator, the crowds should be large – and there is a contest to boot. JTH, my friends. Now – I know I have praised Rick, Joe, et. al. for their work creating the cut-away; however, I saw Rick surfing at low tide the other day, and the kelp appears to be staging a comeback. Let’s get to work boyz – no excuses – work first, pleasure later. The reefscaping work needs attention – let’s not have it happen again.

Back to healthcare: You have heard me argue that the constitution plainly states that a primary aspect of government is health care; “…insure domestic tranquility, …..promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” It’s obvious that domestic tranquility, general welfare, and secured blessings all require healthcare. And what about socialism – here, it’s all about corporate socialism. There is a concern that if there was a government system, the number of participants would allow consumers to leverage their power and drive costs down – hence, the insurance companies couldn’t continue gouging the consumers – oh, then they say they would go out of business – so, the government must allow continuation of the artificially high profits the current market provides – socialism for corporations, capital markets for us. Proof - Republicans strongly oppose a public plan, as do private insurers, who contend it would drive them out of business. "A government-run plan would set artificially-low prices that private insurers would have no way of competing with," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday on the Senate floor. I would argue a government plan would force pricing back to where it should be, to a place where a market with true competition would drive them.

Now they are floating the idea of taxing health care benefits from employers to help pay for the uninsured. Wait a minute – I was under the impression I was already doing that. I’ve been told the 30 percent/year increases in my health insurance and escalating medical costs were due in large part to having to subsidizes all those uninsured folks going to emergency rooms and hospitals, and not paying for it. Now the brain trust wants me to pay for it thrice – once to the insurance companies, once to the medical industry, and once to the government – sounds typical.

Finally -
Count no day lost in which you waited your turn, took only your share and sought advantage over no one. -Robert Brault

Is it Summer Yet?

2009-05-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

I have not kept up with this endeavor, mostly because the surf has been dismal, I've spent my time working, I've been wringing my hands over work, the surf was still dismal, and I already spend a lot of time writing before I get the chance to write here. As my title suggests, we've had some early south swell activity. A couple weeks ago a south ground swell rolled through, weekend of course, and it produced some head high sets. Tiburones was fun, and while not as consistent as JTH, the lack of kelp made up for it. Anyone who calls Tiburones home must give thanks to those who created the cut-away. I've heard those complain that not enough effort was directed to the left - but the overwhelming consensus is significant appreciation. Let me echo with resonance - thank you boyz - Joe, Rick, and the unnamed. In the intervening days since that south swell, various small south swell windows have opened and closed. I caught a few days with the glide and went fishing on some others. We had a heat spell through some of it - some taking advantage by surfing without wet suits - I broke out the 2/3. The souths finally enticed me to take the Pavel out -it worked well and I have had some fun waves on it.

The day of reckoning came today. It's been raining, and after a day off, I decided to surf some double-up wind swell at Tiburones. A couple of guys were out - Dr. Cory was the only SB rider. Caught two waves on the Pavel before I noticed 15 guys had entered the water. A few familiars I didn't need to worry about, but a whole crew of others who I did not trust. Yes - I had only logged two waves - but it was time to go. Took off on a small insider - the only objective was getting out without an altercation. But no. LB out of control - evasive manuvers - hands out reaching for the nose of the LB - trying to hold it up before it hits me, or more importantly, my board. I heard a small collision; the kind you hear but don't feel. At this point I was on my belly trying to negotiate the shallows and head to the safety of the beach. After a close - very close - inspection, I decided I made it out of the water with just a scratch. Might not be so lucky next time. Looks like some west swell in on deck, and possibly a trip to the Ranch. We shall see.

Well, I heard someone say that the new president has been in office 100 days and the economy is still in the tank. Really - I thought he was going to fix things straight off. Typical lagger surfer - swell shows up and responsibilities are out the window. Should have known better than to elect someone from Hawaii.

I also heard the new guy is into health care reform. My gosh, what does he think? A study found that if the same medical program that congress gets was offered to the public at large, enrollment in private insurance plans would plummet. God forbid. The private insurance industry, who for another consecutive year increased my rates by 20 percent, might just fizzle out altogether. The government plan would be able to set premiums well below what private plans charge. Insurance firms endangered - not in this country - corporate socialism - not public well being.

Note From the Field:
“The wings also provide lift; a useful trait for an aircraft, but very hazardous for a car. To compensate for this, the designers have added small wings to "stick" the car to the ground, in the same way Formula 1 cars do.” The same design on a longboard, tail rocker, can compensate for the load on the nose.

Lucubrate -(LOO-kyoo-brayt) - verb intr.: To work (such as study, write, discourse) laboriously or learnedly.

“It may seem counter-intuitive, but a successful policy on international nuclear weapons security must strive to support stable possession and effective stewardship of nuclear technology. Only by stabilizing nuclear capabilities, not by eliminating them, will the world be safe from the threat of nuclear weapon use. The only time in history atomic weapons were used in warfare was when only one country possessed them in very small numbers. Stability since then through deterrence has rested on assured mutual destruction. A world with no nuclear weapons creates an unstable environment in which the first country to redeploy even one gains an extraordinary advantage.” What kind of logic is this? The author would have me believe we need nuclear weapons because if we didn’t have nuclear weapons, the globe would be unstable because someone could have them.

We still have those who argue torture is proper in the right circumstances – and that line of individuals springs from those who were in the upper echelon of our government over the past 8 years. It’s embarrassing to go from the country who would never stoop to emulate the hideous acts of inhumanity practiced by others we condemned, to being the leaders of inhumanity – not only that, we had our greatest legal minds fabricate fantasized justifications in the face of binding law to allow whatever immorality we wanted to engage in. For those other countries we condemn, it was just orders in an authoritarian setting. I include better words than my own:

“I will leave others to claim that torture, in fact, does not work, that confessions obtained under duress - such as that extracted from the heaving body of that poor Argentine braggart in some Santiago cesspool in 1973 - are useless. Or to contend that the United States had better not do that to anyone in our custody lest someday another nation or entity or group decides to treat our prisoners the same way. I find these arguments - and there are many more - to be irrefutable. But I cannot bring myself to use them, for fear of honoring the debate by participating in it.

Can't the United States see that when we allow someone to be tortured by our agents, it is not only the victim and perpetrator who are corrupted, not only the "intelligence" that is contaminated, but also everyone who looked away and said they did not know, everyone who consented tacitly to that outrage so they could sleep a little safer at night, all the citizens who did not march in the streets by the millions to demand the resignation of whoever suggested, even whispered, that torture is inevitable in our day and age, that we must embrace its darkness?
Are we so morally sick, so deaf and dumb and blind, that we do not understand this? Are we so fearful, so in love with our own security and steeped in our own pain, that we are really willing to let people be tortured in the name of America? Have we so lost our bearings that we do not realize that each of us could be the hapless Argentine who sat under the Santiago's sun, so possessed by the evil done to him that he could not stop shivering?” Ariel Dorfman, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, October 28, 2006

“You cannot disentangle the torture program from the war of aggression in Iraq – nor from the illegal wiretapping program, the corrupt war profiteering, and all the other degradations of liberty and law that have been so accelerated in the past eight years. They are all of a piece, part and parcel of a plan to expand and entrench America's "unipolar domination" of world affairs with a thoroughly militarized state led by an unaccountable, authoritarian "Unitary Executive."
This is one reason why Barack Obama is so obviously reluctant to tug on the torture thread too hard. If you tear it out, with full-scale prosecutions and top officials locked up behind bars, the whole rotten skein would fall apart. Once you start genuinely subjecting government officials – including security apparatchiks and military brass – to the full extent of the law, there would be no end to the unraveling: senators, contractors, representatives, bureaucrats, generals, lobbyists, judges, corporate chiefs – the whole edifice of Establishment power would be shaken to the core as its leading lights went down, one after the other.

Thus the mere act of applying the ordinary, bourgeois laws of the land as they stand right now would constitute a world-shaking revolution, an overthrow of the existing order every bit as radical as any ideologue's dream of mass uprising. It would be, in effect, a re-founding of the Republic – and the end of the empire, which cannot survive without continual war, lawless rule and endless corruption.” Chris Floyd, April 2009

On Black Bears in Arkansas – after almost wiping them out of existence, wildlife officials began a program to bring them back – now - "If people won't tolerate them, they won't be there for long. That's why they were gone to start with," an official said. "If we can manage them so that they have value to the human occupants that they have to share the habitat with, it's a plus, I think, to the bears. I think the hunting is a good tool to enable us to give them that kind of value." Value = killing bears – hmmm.

“A man’s got to know his limitations” Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, 1973.

2009-03-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Art tells a great deal about a culture, and so when I spied this graphic narrative, I had to capture it for posterity. You might need to zoom in on the tailgate art - it is well worth it. Christ on the cross juxtaposed with a bathing beauty with largo features. The mission, the ranchero, and the low-ride truck. California.

A great winter storm has been pushing through for days – I even heard frogs last night! Obama on the economic stimulus bill he signed today: “This is beginning of the End.” What does this mean? More when I have time to figure it out.

A sad story and no good ending in sight – “So the government tries to recover the happy Bubble Economy years by getting debt growing again, hoping to re-inflate real estate and stock market prices. That was, after all, the Golden Age of finance capital’s world of using debt leverage to bid up the book-price of fictitious capital assets. Everyone loved it as long as it lasted. Voters thought they had a chance to become millionaires, and approved happily. And at least it made Wall Street richer than ever before – while almost doubling the share of wealth held by the wealthiest 1 per cent of America’s families. For Washington policy makers, they are synonymous with “the economy” – at least the economy for which national economic policy is being formulated these days.” No real change on the horizon – slight of hand, make people believe our economic system is viable and just needs help to get pushed out of the valley and up the hill, then things will get rolling again. No change. I really do not understand how real change will occur when it does not suit those who have the least to lose, and will always gain. It’s the same with the MIC - military industrial complex. With this picture in mind, where do the commoners turn?

The central axiom of Capitalism is that the best allocation of resources is achieved through consumers having free choice, and producers responding accordingly to meet collective consumer demand. Do consumers have free choice, and are producers responding accordingly or creating demand? It is assumed individuals and groups must act rationally in any society for their own good. What are the probabilities of that? Did Bush get elected twice? Squeeze in social justice and humane treatment. Some Marx and some Smith – like anything else – yin and yang. But, we seem to be stuck in extremes – yin over yang. The yin – in liberal theory, the market returns to each person the exact value she added into it; capitalists are just people who are very adept at saving and whose contributions are especially magnificent, and they do not take anything away from other people or the environment. Hmm.

So the President spoke to Congress and us all. The Republicans responded – and thrashed. All very typical. But this is precious - "You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility," Jindal said. "Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington." All right, Republicans had controlled Congress since 1994, and they had a Republican president for the last eight years. And they “went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington." These fuckers must think I am an idiot. What – did you guys "go along" with the Supreme Court – the only arm of government not solidified during the last eight years. Who did they "go along" with? They were in control. Once again – fuck those guys for trashing my intelligence.

Surfed today – got a couple of quick ones before the masses showed. El Segundo Bol at high tide, chest-high north-northwest swell – not a trend does one point make.

U.S. pledge of about $300 million in humanitarian aid for the war-torn Gaza Strip – we gave our hard earned cash to the Israelis to destroy Gaza, now it’s time to give our hard earned cash to rebuild Gaza. And they argue about stimulus.

Surfed a couple of times last week – weak. Seemed like a south was trying to show. Not much to say for the surf – sums up the whole season so far.

Regarding surf, one young old timer had time to think. " We need to reinvent surfing....its bottomed out into sponsorship competition jock-glorifying mass pop-culture consumptive blandness and sameness. Here are a few suggestions for us all: stop buying major label surf clothes, ignore pro-surfing, stop reading Surfer, Surfing and especially TransWorld Surfing (the surf publication for the truly ignorant). Put groms back in school. Support our local hand shapers rather than bro-dealing them into poverty or then abandoning them because you can get a board for fifty dollars cheaper somewhere else. Stop buying some float toy popout because its more "durable" ,as if durability comes anywhere near touching the soul of surfing. Stop buying some "signiture model" mass produced semi-copy of some pro's boad. If your not Kelly Slater why are you riding a board based on his? Get your own shaper, build a relationship with him, have him build boards that interest you, made for you, and for where you surf. Stop caring about what anyone else thinks of your surfing, stop commenting on others surfing, be original and have fun..if you can."

Still no surf and there are weak rumors of surf – spring is here.

Mr. Freeman withdraws nomination to intelligence position, citing pressure from Israel lobby – The reporting in the US speaks for itself – “(Freeman) ties to China and Saudi Arabia” = “Freeman is a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who has also served as an assistant secretary of defense and a senior diplomat in China.” NY Senator: “His statements against Israel were way over the top and severely out of step with the administration" = Freeman: “The brutal oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli occupation shows no sign of ending," and "American identification with Israel has become total." “I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country." Simple enough – Israel runs the US to the point where their citizens get more US money per person than any US citizen will see from any stimulus. And when somebody points that out – they get out.

Former President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that he won't criticize Barack Obama because the new U.S. president "deserves my silence," and said he plans to write a book about the 12 toughest decisions he made in office. I respect Bush’s comment – most respectful thing I have ever heard him say. Maybe being away from Cheney and the rest have allowed him time to consider. That said, I understand why writing a book is one of his 12 toughest decisions – he can’t write.

Finally, and from the most absurd direction for Mid-March, a real swell showed. The waves were generated from a swell that has ranged from 3.5 feet from 180 degrees at 17 seconds to 2.5 feet from 200 degrees at 14 seconds. The swell started to show on Saturday and seemed to push Monday and Tuesday – maybe even tomorrow. Surfed Tiburones, but waves looked fun all along the Point. Kelp is still hanging in there, but Tiburones is a little better thanks to Joe, Rick, and others who spent some of the swell down time landscaping the reef. Appreciate it boyz. No altercations – just quick incursions. Still haven’t tried the Pavel, and although I thought about it, I recognized I needed to get my surf legs back after the layoff. Speaking of layoffs – I hope things work out.

More on the swell season – tonight I note that cyclone Ken is turning in the south pacific – northeast of NZ. We shall see – more south coming?

Sketchy surf, and I need to get tested for drugs so I can eat. The latest bright idea from a country of bright minds – “Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.” How about testing the financial sector gang – they seem to be taking drugs, but those who are hurting the most? Dare I say – Republicanesque.

Last Word: Civilizations in decline are consistently characterized by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. -Arnold Toynbee, historian (1889-1975) - How about surfing?

Sunset Somewhere Else

2009-02-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

Surf – none local. Travel – maybe. Beaches – rumors and some confirmed reports. Up North – mas e manos.

The fucking balls – Blackwater – denied a license to operate in Iraq by the home government, stated “it could leave the country within 72 hours but cautioned that such a move would cause more harm to the American diplomats it protects than the company itself.” Oh gee – we need them so bad – just because they massacred civilians, what are we going to do? Our own military can’t do the job anymore – only private armies can deal with it.

Comedy usually lightens the mood – which is definitely necessary for the ME, but another – you’ve got to be fucking kidding me – story has surface. The Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak proposed linking the Gaza Strip with the occupied West Bank by digging a thirty-mile tunnel through Israeli territory. Why not put all of ‘em underground? Precious.

And it doesn’t stop - a Pakistani American who owns a satellite TV company in Brooklyn has pleaded guilty to providing material aid to a terrorist organization by letting customers receive broadcasts from a Lebanese TV station tied to Hezbollah. The accused used satellite dishes on his Staten Island home to distribute television broadcasts of Al Manar, and faces up to six-and-a-half years in prison. He has lived in the United States for twenty years and is the father of five children.

Date unknown – The days pass by unmarked by any notable string of surf, hence time passes without milestones. I really couldn’t tell you when I last surfed, let alone how the surf was – it was probably marginal with too many guys out and critical length achieved. Of the sessions I have had, it seems I remember board damage over wave quality. Always hopeful, I surf.

On economics – “Modern economic theory is based on “empty-world” economics. But, in fact, today the world is full. In a “full world,” the fish catch is limited by the remaining population of fish, not by the number of fishing boats, which are man-made capital in excess supply. Oil energy is limited by geological deposits, not by the drilling and pumping capacity of man-made capital. In national income accounting, the use of man-made capital is depreciated, but the use of nature’s capital has no cost. Therefore, the using up of natural capital always results in economic growth.”

“For example, the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico from fertilizer runoff from chemical fertilizer farming are not counted as a cost against the increase in agricultural output from chemical farming. The brown clouds that reduce light over large areas of Asia are not included as costs in the production of energy from coal. Economists continue to assume that the only limits to growth are labor, man-made capital, and consumer demand. In fact, the critical limit is ecological.” - Paul Craig Roberts, 2009.

Blackwater is now Xe – pronounced “zee” – it’s also the atomic symbol for Xenon. The name for the atom Xenon came from the Greek word for foreigner, stranger, or guest. Indeed, a parasite that invades your community or your country, and yet invited as a guest (mercenaries). Xenon “Xe” can also be used as an anesthetic. Again, you don’t know what they’re up too when you’re under. No matter, what’s in a name?

Last Word
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

Or a God who is a real estate agent -

Vole Time

2009-01-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

Pictured here is one of Penguin's favorite locals - a Vole. Or is it a rat? Ever since Rambo started the cliff erosion zone at the Hook, the Vole habitat has been threatened. Now hard to spot, the Vole is becoming as scarce as the Penguin. I think the Mayor needs to organize a protest to protect the Vole.

11 January 2009 – Beautiful day over the bay – warm offshore, wispy clouds, and a beautiful ocean. Flat.

12 January 2009 – more of the same – not bad, but waves are not part of the theme.

The Blood-Stained Monster Enters Gaza (reprinted without permission 01/11/09)
By Uri Avnery

Nearly seventy ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called “the Red Army” held the millions of the town’s inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.

Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz. This is the description that would now appear in the history books – if the Germans had won the war.

Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as “hostages” and exploit the women and children as “human shields”, they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured.

IN THIS WAR, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. The disparity between the forces, between the Israeli army - with its airplanes, gunships, drones, warships, artillery and tanks - and the few thousand lightly armed Hamas fighters, is one to a thousand, perhaps one to a million. In the political arena the gap between them is even wider. But in the propaganda war, the gap is almost infinite.

Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government (“The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets”) has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all.

Only when the horrible scenes from Gaza started to appear on Western TV screens, did world public opinion gradually begin to change. True, Western and Israeli TV channels showed only a tiny fraction of the dreadful events that appear 24 hours every day on Aljazeera’s Arabic channel, but one picture of a dead baby in the arms of its terrified father is more powerful than a thousand elegantly constructed sentences from the Israeli army spokesman. And that is what is decisive, in the end.

War – every war – is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one’s country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor.

The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions.

An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp. Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army “revealed” that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification.

Later the official liar claimed that “our soldiers were shot at from inside the school”. Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees.

But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that “they shot from inside the school”, and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact.

So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas terrorist. Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a “symbol of Hamas rule”. Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the “most moral army in the world”.

THE TRUTH is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak – a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called “moral insanity”, a sociopathic disorder. The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming elections) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the imagination of the planners, Hamas is an invader which has gained control of a foreign country. The reality is, of course, entirely different.

The Hamas movement won the majority of the votes in the eminently democratic elections that took place in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. It won because the Palestinians had come to the conclusion that Fatah’s peaceful approach had gained precisely nothing from Israel - neither a freeze of the settlements, nor release of the prisoners, nor any significant steps toward ending the occupation and creating the Palestinian state. Hamas is deeply rooted in the population – not only as a resistance movement fighting the foreign occupier, like the Irgun and the Stern Group in the past – but also as a political and religious body that provides social, educational and medical services.

From the point of view of the population, the Hamas fighters are not a foreign body, but the sons of every family in the Strip and the other Palestinian regions. They do not “hide behind the population”, the population views them as their only defenders.

Therefore, the whole operation is based on erroneous assumptions. Turning life into living hell does not cause the population to rise up against Hamas, but on the contrary, it unites behind Hamas and reinforces its determination not to surrender. The population of Leningrad did not rise up against Stalin, any more than the Londoners rose up against Churchill.

He who gives the order for such a war with such methods in a densely populated area knows that it will cause dreadful slaughter of civilians. Apparently that did not touch him. Or he believed that “they will change their ways” and “it will sear their consciousness”, so that in future they will not dare to resist Israel.

A top priority for the planners was the need to minimize casualties among the soldiers, knowing that the mood of a large part of the pro-war public would change if reports of such casualties came in. That is what happened in Lebanon Wars I and II.

This consideration played an especially important role because the entire war is a part of the election campaign. Ehud Barak, who gained in the polls in the first days of the war, knew that his ratings would collapse if pictures of dead soldiers filled the TV screens.

Therefore, a new doctrine was applied: to avoid losses among our soldiers by the total destruction of everything in their path. The planners were not only ready to kill 80 Palestinians to save one Israeli soldier, as has happened, but also 800. The avoidance of casualties on our side is the overriding commandment, which is causing record numbers of civilian casualties on the other side.

That means the conscious choice of an especially cruel kind of warfare – and that has been its Achilles heel. A person without imagination, like Barak (his election slogan: “Not a Nice Guy, but a Leader”) cannot imagine how decent people around the world react to actions like the killing of whole extended families, the destruction of houses over the heads of their inhabitants, the rows of boys and girls in white shrouds ready for burial, the reports about people bleeding to death over days because ambulances are not allowed to reach them, the killing of doctors and medics on their way to save lives, the killing of UN drivers bringing in food. The pictures of the hospitals, with the dead, the dying and the injured lying together on the floor for lack of space, have shocked the world. No argument has any force next to an image of a wounded little girl lying on the floor, twisting with pain and crying out: “Mama! Mama!”

The planners thought that they could stop the world from seeing these images by forcibly preventing press coverage. The Israeli journalists, to their shame, agreed to be satisfied with the reports and photos provided by the Army Spokesman, as if they were authentic news, while they themselves remained miles away from the events. Foreign journalists were not allowed in either, until they protested and were taken for quick tours in selected and supervised groups. But in a modern war, such a sterile manufactured view cannot completely exclude all others – the cameras are inside the strip, in the middle of the hell, and cannot be controlled. Aljazeera broadcasts the pictures around the clock and reaches every home.

THE BATTLE for the TV screen is one of the decisive battles of the war.
Hundreds of millions of Arabs from Mauritania to Iraq, more than a billion Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia see the pictures and are horrified. This has a strong impact on the war. Many of the viewers see the rulers of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority as collaborators with Israel in carrying out these atrocities against their Palestinian brothers.
The security services of the Arab regimes are registering a dangerous ferment among the peoples. Hosny Mubarak, the most exposed Arab leader because of his closing of the Rafah crossing in the face of terrified refugees, started to pressure the decision-makers in Washington, who until that time had blocked all calls for a cease-fire. These began to understand the menace to vital American interests in the Arab world and suddenly changed their attitude – causing consternation among the complacent Israeli diplomats.

People with moral insanity cannot really understand the motives of normal people and must guess their reactions. “How many divisions has the Pope?” Stalin sneered. “How many divisions have people of conscience?” Ehud Barak may well be asking.

As it turns out, they do have some. Not numerous. Not very quick to react. Not very strong and organized. But at a certain moment, when the atrocities overflow and masses of protesters come together, that can decide a war.

THE FAILURE to grasp the nature of Hamas has caused a failure to grasp the predictable results. Not only is Israel unable to win the war, Hamas cannot lose it. Even if the Israeli army were to succeed in killing every Hamas fighter to the last man, even then Hamas would win. The Hamas fighters would be seen as the paragons of the Arab nation, the heroes of the Palestinian people, models for emulation by every youngster in the Arab world. The West Bank would fall into the hands of Hamas like a ripe fruit, Fatah would drown in a sea of contempt, the Arab regimes would be threatened with collapse.

If the war ends with Hamas still standing, bloodied but unvanquished, in face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter.
What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet. In the end, this war is a crime against ourselves too, a crime against the State of Israel.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom.

As described above - not every Israeli, just like not every American, is into the ME mess. Unfortunately, our voices are unheard and our money is not within our control. THe recetn round is mostly over, and the aftermath is grusome. Now that the press can enter the war zone, horrendious stories are surfacing. So much cost, but what was bought?

13 January 2009 – It’s a capsule of summer in southern California immersed in the winter of Norcal – but still flat. Totally flat.

Bushspeak – toward the end, he’s spilling his guts. “Strong presidency” according to his assessment. Indeed, Bush has entered a place where complete and total fuckups – clusterfucks - are described as “disappointments”. It goes on: “I don’t think you can possibly get the full breadth of an administration ’til time has passed.” That means until the short memory that typifies SPB dries up and the cocksuckers that worship anything republican rewrite history. “Full breadth” – more likely ill wind.

More on your tax dollars - A new study is estimating the US government is spending at least $52 billion a year on nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons-related programs.

16 January 2009 – Building swell meanders in today, much smaller than the hype that preceded it. Tomorrow, the swell is supposed to peak, along with crowd. I went out at Segundo Bol – long period waits and lined up in a westerly short of way. Tonight, 5 feet from 290 at 20 seconds.

17, 18 January 2009 – Fun surf at the Steps but way crowded. Stayed inside and out of the way. Surfed until dark and got a couple. Great sunset - and the water was above freezing.

19 January 2009 - Tonight I went out and rode my prized thruster - near the end of the session some amp case turned and took off in front of me right as I was making a tight first bottom turn to get down the line. The guy stuffed the nose and his board launched into the bottom of my board. After the commiserate whitewash tumble, I came up and began taking stock - I felt the impact, and sure enough the last two-thirds of my board was ripped - bad. Didn't even faze the guy.

25 January 2009 - I surf and therefore I am. A plea to the LB crowd - even if critical length has been achieved, could you guys let a couple through for the SB crew? Are you fucking unconscious? Peace, Love, and LBs. Yes, there has been surf. Up and around the Point, the surf has been head-high to overhead. The Steps has seen waist to head high surf and Tiburones has seen a couple shoulder high sets - mostly closeouts. Hot Dog claimed he hopped on the train a few times at NB. Kelp is still plaguing the line-up and sometimes its worse than the masses who never cease to turn out of the woodwork. It's either global warming or surf schools. Problem is, even the shitty insiders I habitat are getting hard to get up for. Going straight is not my idea of a fun session. Remember - just one good bottom turn makes a session.

Last Word-
Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, enemy to none. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

Penguin Migrates

2009-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

1, 2 January 2009 - A New Year, and yet the same old day. Why the latest ME death and destruction? - (A) Hamas-run Gaza has been largely isolated from the rest of the world since the Islamic militants won parliamentary elections in 2006. Fuel embargos, border closings, food shortages, no water, no refrigeration, partial electricity, and no freedom of movement – desperation. People willing to do stupid things to survive - no excuse, just reality for caged animals; (B) On the other side, there is fear. Terror is the fear of random death and destruction – anytime, anyone. They are doing it to each other. Since the US will not be fair in this struggle, and no other countries have the balls to stride out of the mud bog of the past, it seems as if the only finality for the whole ME shit-can is to encourage the boyz using my tax dollars – the weapons I bought them – to kill every one of those mother fuckers until they have complete submission – groveling dogs looking for food. Indian reservations. Drunks. Beaten down lack of pride purged of culture no name kill them all period. Stop drawing it out. It’s costing me way too much money. Get it over with, kill them all, kill, kill, kill, kill. On a brighter note, there is no surf.

3, 4, 5 January 2009 – Surfed the Steps and between First and Second Peak over the last three days. It was small and very cold, but what’s a surfer to do? Maybe tomorrow – right? I know I’ve said this before – but really – “U.S. Marines raised the American flag over the adobe-colored buildings, which sit on a 104-acre site and has space for 1,000 employees — more than 10 times the size of any other American Embassy in the world.” At a cost of $700 million – what’s the point? Control. “The new embassy's exact dimensions are classified, but it is said to be six times larger than the U.N. complex in New York and more than 10 times the size of the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which at 10 acres is America's second-largest mission.” Why is so much of my hard earned money going to fund war in the ME and embassies that dwarf the U.N.? Why not work with the U.N. here in the US and at missions throughout the world? Go it alone? Control.

Three boys take over a school by force, killing two administrators. The state police and federal officials launch a retaliatory attack. Using helicopter air power, automatic weapons, and gas, the authorities first soften up the target, striking fear into the enemy. Then they storm the building and kill the terrorists. Unfortunately, there was collateral damage. More than half of the school complex was destroyed, 30 civilians were killed, and 3 police officers were killed by friendly fire. Authorities responded to the outcome saying, “The situation was caused by the terrorists.”

When asked by the press why he thought Hamas did not renew the cease-fire, our Press Undersecretary stated: I wouldn’t know, I can’t see into the minds of terrorists. Maybe this report from the ground provides insight - "People have been weakened by 18 months of blockade and siege. They've been getting very little food, electricity or heat for a long time, and so they are in a very weakened condition." – gee – do you think the people feel a little desperate? Frustrated? Lets recall this started because the Palestinians voted Hamas into power – and the US and Israel did not approve, hence, blockade and siege. Collective punishment - you chose the wrong government. Like I said –lets end it and let the Israelis kill them all. That way, the Israelis could have their state and my taxes could go toward our needs.

Verbal dry-hump

6 through 11 January – Been all but flat, although I did try Wednesday at JTH. The water and air temperatures have matched for a cold fucking set up. I heard the beaches have had waves, but I’m a loser. Last couple days have heated up weather-wise, but the surf has remained pinner. Low tide walks and a huge full moon have helped to smooth out the NSA (no surf angst). As you could probably tell, for me the ME has solidified my feelings regarding SPB. Our congress voting to unreservedly support the Israelis, no fucking matter what, and to add icing to the proverbial cake, I heard a statement from one of the Israeli military wonders that indicated once all the rockets were taken out, there would be no more terrorists. That’s right – rockets=terrorists. Of course, like dogs, nothing in their hearts and minds; no soul; no memory – just terrorist animals. If it were so simple. I know the indiscriminate rocket fire is wrong, but I understand the frustration. At some point, most of us have felt a small measure of that frustration – like when we have no control over our situation – like how our tax dollars are used. What if the UN resolutions of the past had been implemented; like recognizing the 1967 borders and the right of return. Would things be the way they are now? Would the oppressed feel so oppressed? Would the occupiers still need to occupy? Would there have been more of a memory of healing than of hate?

Whatever you think about it, you must admit that some of the more memorable times at Sharks included the shenanigans of Penguin. From oil cans to quick wit – backside bottom turns and way to much testosterone – a love affair with the Mayor – and day to day observations: “That fly got stuck in his chest hair – like a fucking Venus Flytrap---.” Gone only to return, this time he assures he will be missing for a while. He is off with his wife to the Rocky Mountains. I’m sure he’ll feel homesick and want to experience that adrenalin rush that only a LB going straight can provide – and I will work hard to get him back this summer for a fix. Good luck no matter where you end up.

Final Word
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy? -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

Drought December

2008-12-24T15:12:00.000-08:00

22, 23 November - I did not see the ocean on Saturday, but I heard the swell had dropped and there was a contest at JTH. Sunday, the swell was definitely gone, and what was left was a mix of the waning ground swell and west-northwest wind swell. It was small double-up contest surf complete with a contest. Tomorrow.

"A fool at 40 is a fool forever"

"This man represents the tragedy of aid," he said pointing to the older of the two. "While this man represents the potential of aid," he said indicating the younger man. Mr Mwenda explained that the sexagenarian was the chairman of the local parish council who had spent most of his life living off aid money, supervising projects meant to benefit the community. Today he is an alcoholic who still lives with his mother. Dysfunctional lifestyle. The younger man started selling potatoes in the village square at the age of 17. Less than 10 years later he owns the largest and busiest store in the village. He has not received one penny from aid, yet he has bought himself land and has built a house.

27 through 29 November – tripping to Irvine for a football match. Lots of people, smog-ridden air, I got sick, great football but sketchy tournament, and the fun of adventure. Two wins and a tie – we missed the championship game by goal difference. On the way back I got to see some of the swell the bros back home were telling me about. C Street was overhead and looking pretty good. Further north, the swell got smaller – Rincon was shoulder to head high, and El Capitan was pinner.

30 November – swell pushing while I was away – tonight 11.4 feet from 290 at 17 seconds. Back from LA and I’m sick.

Sustainable vs Throw Away – in every facet of human life – recalling the past because we throw the present away – all other life on this planet – this planet – lives through sustainable mechanisms - balance. The ancient foot path traveled by all creatures, from one point of living to another – broken by human progress – they throw a little away for each step of progress, but in the end all they’ve thrown away will be their end and the end for many others. Sustainable. Sustainability = Balance.

3 December – finally got back into the water today, even though sickness continued to set up house in by body. I surfed JTH with tide high and on the way out. Maybe chest high. Got a couple and reacquainted myself with the ocean. Ocean sounds bouncing into my window suggest the swell is picking up.

In reference to the auto industry, I was amused to hear that after some deep thought, CEOs are willing to work next year for a salary of $1. Wow, what a sacrifice. After receiving $23 million or so each year for the last few years: do you think they can make it? And the wise senator who asked this of the CEOs, why not have them do the hokey pokey or shimmy with a hula-hoop? These acts seem to be adequate qualifiers for a $23 billion dollar loan. I’m fuckin sure.
And Bush – “…I regret intelligence failures”. Sure, blame some esoteric process – nuclear weapons, super power, and intelligence failures? What a lethal cocktail. The buck stops at – intelligence failures. Why was I speeding? Well officer, there was an intelligence failure. I’m not responsible.

4 December – surfed the Steps, waist to head-high, but I was still feeing my illness - nothing else but coughing fits of sleep.

5 to 8 December – I went from sick to sicker and haven’t been to the ocean since. Went to the physician and found that my virus moved into a bacterial infection. The PA said my throat looked “nasty”. Antibiotics to the call – we shall see. Anyway, I am shut down.

9 to 16 December – One surf last week that lasted 5 waves, not because I was out of energy, but the surf just disappeared. The antibiotics got me back on my feet, and I feel like my health is back – but I haven’t seen a wave for days. We’ve had a strange mix of cold stormy weather with little swell. I’ve checked the buoys, and they show swell is in the water, but the direction indicates the swell is coming in from Oakland. Today was cloudy and sunny, and the ocean shimmered silver. Framing the Bay were snow-covered mountains. Today, I’ve been married 30 years, and for those that surf hardcore, you will recognize this as an accomplishment. Not on my part, but on the part of the person who stuck by me when all that mattered was surf. Today, I am very happy.

I heard about an interview done with Cheney. Unfuckingbelievable. The guy’s directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, torture conducted by Americans, and constitutional abuses, and he admits it with an arrogance unmatched by anyone I can remember – except Bush and the rest of his henchmen. And the shoe-chucking incident – you could literally feel the guys frustration. There are those in government that deserve the shoe treatment – and wouldn’t it be wonderful to oblige. Then the news that another official with a corporate agenda tried to undermine Endangered Species Act; editing reports and applying pressure on scientists in order to advance corporate over animals; resigns when she gets caught when ultimately she should be going to jail. In fact, now that this whole Bush clusterfuck is coming to an end, and they figure no one’s going to do anything about their total disregard for the rule of law, they are flaunting it in our collective faces. So fucking what – what are you gonna do about it?

17 to 24 December – FLAT – Just Flat. Except today it’s stormy victory at sea. Other than that, I’m still struggling to kick this cold/plague type condition. On the bright side, a five-year wait has ended. I have taken receipt of a 5’ 8” Pavel Speed Dialer. The craftsmanship is of the highest quality and the board looks like it will be really fun. The glass job is one of the best I have ever seen – down to the resin pin strips, glass rope cord cleat, and wedge stringer. It’s custom. But how do I ride it? You can envision the whole scene. Nice walls at Tiburones, light crowd, and the maiden voyage. Racing down the line, just kicking it into gear when some lame-ass LB drops in going straight. Evasive maneuvers are executed, but in the end a collision occurs. The inevitable “sorry” is uttered before I go ballistic. Ralph? Alternatively, I could hang it on the wall and daydream. Is this possibly one of the most difficult decisions of my life?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurred on December 21, 2008 at 12:04 UT (Universal Time). The longest night of the year, and the next day, light triumphs over darkness. It is truly incredible how this day has been celebrated and honored by all cultures since the beginning of humanity. I look forward to this day because it means the battle between night and day is over and spring is to come – the beginning of my favorite surf season. Whatever the reasons, it all comes down to daylight; a time to groove on what was accomplished or not during the previous span of daylight, and a time to look forward to the next cycle. In the best of pagan traditions, Happy New Daylight and I hope the next cycle treats you and yours well.

Last Word-
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)

Plek

2008-11-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

“A new study published recently in the journal Science suggested that a fishery can be saved by giving those who harvest the sea a guaranteed share of its bounty, rather than having them compete to see who can extract the most the fastest.” Another example that shows free market thinking is not the end-all as envisioned by some economists.

11 November – As evening fills in, so does the swell – 8 feet from 310 at 14 seconds - a little steep for getting around the Point, but sure to generate some refraction.

12 November – Surfed an evening session at the Steps – low-tide-kelp-ridden – fun. Got to say – moonrise on one side and sunset on the other – doesn’t get better than that.

13 November – Surf shrank a bit, and while there was water there were some waves. But, as some of you may have witnessed, my dad was in town. We walked the Point; spoke of times past and times future. The guy’s 80, but doesn’t look much older than 65. Putting myself in his place, I figured I have a future in the LB glide, if I’m so lucky. Back to the surf – the buoys say: 8.3 feet from 285 at 14 seconds mixed with 1.2 feet from 225 at 17 seconds – I just didn’t see it.

The Supreme Court renders a decision on Navy sonar and harm to whales: “We do not discount the importance of plaintiffs’ ecological, scientific, and recreational interests in marine mammals,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “Those interests, however, are plainly outweighed by the Navy’s need to conduct realistic training exercises to ensure that it is able to neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines.” What bothers me most – is the clear consideration that the whales are not a relevant life form – whereas human beings are the only relevant life form - truly a Christian tradition. Notice the language – “importance of plaintiffs’ ecological, scientific, and recreational interests in marine mammals” – nothing about the welfare of the affected life forms. Nada. In the balance was the interest of people involved in ecological, scientific, and recreational endeavors weighed against the interest of the Navy (people) to “neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines (people)”. Nowhere is the idea that beings, no better than ourselves, are in the balance – the whales. Their personal safety, habitat, families, play, food, and procreation - nada.

There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to other animals as well as humans, it is all a sham. -Anna Sewell, writer (1820-1878)

Palin said it was the responsibility of Republican governors to ensure that Obama's administration did not exert too much control over the US healthcare system. – Fuckin’ A – let’s keep getting screwed by corporate profits for something that is a constitutional benefit – force corporate pricing for medication, force HSA – more cash for banks at our expense – Corpgov - let’s see how many middle men we can setup to profit from keeping the US public healthy and provide help when folks are ill.

More proof that Corpgov does not live in the sphere of the “free market” - The socialism elite saved once again by Corpgov – massacre and contracts - Blackwater has yet to be charged or hit with any other punitive action over the unprovoked massacre of seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nissour Square on September 16, 2007. The company has received more than $1.2 billion in government contracts since then.

14 November – Surfed small low tide kelp ridden Second Bowl at sunset. This morning, the lot was full – the Internet swell was in. Being a virtual event – it didn’t necessarily mean there were waves. Given the choice between people and kelp – I went with kelp. At least it’s static, semi soft, and doesn’t talk back. Of course kelp does have attitude. True local. Anyway, got a few. The buoys show 8 feet from 275 at 12 seconds, but on the ground things looked a lot different. More like from 315. I’m not sure, but I think tomorrow holds the promise of more Internet swell.

15 November – Beautiful day – hot n’ glassy – buoys show 6.1 feet from 290 at 14 seconds. The top of the Point looks like it’s getting waves, but just like the economy, the trickle down effect is non-existent. The Steps just weren’t getting it. That didn’t stop the Interlopers from traveling. I turned some soil over in the garden and later this afternoon I’m off to watch the U16 Breakers Academy team play the LA Galaxy U16 team. Beach breaks?

16 and 17 November – Still beautiful – still hot n’ glassy - buoys – nada. Nothing more to be said.

Prolix – tediously wordy - herein?

18 November – It was pitiful, but I had to get a “training” session in at Segundo Bol. I can sum it up as charging a couple of shin-snappers. This epic surf session was followed by a change in the weather – hot to cold off a cliff.

19 November – Flat and cold.

Ali Hamza al-Bahlu - He is accused of three war crimes: Conspiracy, as an alleged member of al Qaeda who ran Osama bin Laden's media operations in Afghanistan and made, among other things, a recruiting film that glorified the suicide bombing of the destroyer USS Cole; Solicitation to Commit Murder of Protected Persons and Providing Material Support for Terrorism. He allegedly also served as a member of bin Laden's security detail. Life in prison.

Salim Hamdan – Saddam’s driver - he was arrested at a road block in Afghanistan in November 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in his car, and found guilty on the charge of providing support to al-Qaeda. 5 years in prison.

Blackwater and its Employees - According to Iraqi officials, Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 people -- including women and children -- on September 16 at Baghdad's Nusoor Square. Inquiry? Sentence? Nada. $ 92 million Fed contract - United States of Hypocrisy

20 November – Flat – but the beautiful weather returned.

21 November – The Internet made the prediction, and sure enough, day broke with a swell. The buoys show 11.2 feet from 275 at 14 seconds. After an unusual day in a suit and tie, I paddled out at Second Bowl. There was a hearty crowd on it, but I thought I saw a seam on the inside. While ducking the third barrage of white water, I let my board slip from my grip. The board went all the way to the narrow sand beach at the channel between Second Bowl and Third Bowl. Before my first wave I took a significant swim. Luckily, my board washed up on the sand unscathed. This whole affair gave me time to see a few waves break on the western edge of the reef at Tiburones. Having the time to reassess my options, I decided to head over to Tiburones. The seam I thought I saw at Second Bowl appeared very, very narrow. So I pressed on to Tiburones, and I got a couple. In general, Tiburones leaves me wanting when the swell direction is from the northwest; however, I do find some off the reef at the west end of the bowl. After a few waves, I lost my board again after running aground on a kelp bed. My second swim took me all the way into the Cove. After a couple more waves, I decided the sun was at the right elevation for ending the session, and paddled over to inside Second Bowl, between Second Bowl and Third Bowl. I grabbed a decent wave that raced me along toward the left off Tibuornes, and forgetting about my cordless nature, banked off the lip approaching from Tiburones. My fins broke free, I got sideways, and – I was swimming. Next thing I know, my board is heading for the shallow cave next to the main cave at Tiburones. I was swimming hard, while at the same time watching my board inch toward the cave. I was close, but the wave that lifted me toward the cave picked up my board, turned into white water, and disappeared into the cave with my board in tow. I couldn’t see the board, but continued toward the cave to retrieve what was left of it. Just as I reached out, the backwash from the cave surged out and miraculously deposited my board at my fingertips. No scratches on the board, but my fins were tipped with mudstone and it looked as if the tabs on one fin were stressed. I decided it was a good idea to call it a session and let that particular board get a rest.

22, 23 November - I did not see the ocean on Saturday, but I heard the swell had dropped and there was a contest at JTH. Sunday, the swell was definitely gone, and what was left was a mix of the waning ground swell and west-northwest wind swell. It was small double-up contest surf complete with a contest. Tomorrow.

Final Word - Let your capital be simplicity and contentment. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

Kelp Sliding

2008-11-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

27 – 31 October, 1 – 3 November – Sketchy surf and good weather before our first good storm came through for Halloween. I surfed a few times, Most notable was on Sunday – the storm surf mellowed and a few lined up between Second Bowl and Sharks. I ventured out an hour post high tide and got some before the pros came out to boost. It didn’t take long for the Second Bowl take off spot to have the kelp mats replaced by pro-mats. Faced with reality, I got one in and watched the proceedings. Today, nada – another storm passing through and storm surf prevailed. Tomorrow – vote. Uncertainty rules with one exception: 1,000 warriors protect the past (corporate status quo).

4 November – Small wind swell at Segundo Bol gave me some late afternoon solace, but eventually the day’s end and kelp mats had their way. What about the bundles of band saw blades that pass as kelp? Did you vote? It will be interesting to see the final tally. Spoke to Larrf – sounds like he’s doing well and was real stoked about a Takyama shaped and glassed redwood that he was orchestrating. He was also considering a glass job to the top of the church van – apparently he’s getting wet.

The headline read: “Rice can trigger severe gut reaction in infants” – At first I had to agree, Rice does trigger a severe gut reaction for me – but why focus on infants? I mean, Condi must make whole populations ill. Then I realized the headline referred to rice – the food staple. My bad.

The suffix, "-ocity" means, "having the quality of." Surfocity, wavocity, groovocity – Next?

5 November – We have a new Prez, but we have disgraced ourselves by showing disregard for a specific group of PEOPLE. On the balance, I am not satisfied. I guess it’s knida’ like the day. Beautiful weather, wind just right – but the surf was flat. On the balance – a beautiful day – why complain. Unfortunately, what a majority of the State’s population said to a small group of citizens was “fuck off”. On the balance, a poor choice. As surfers, we greet every day with the hope of waves – good or otherwise. Esperanza.

6 November – I went out even though it was pinner. Kelp mats not withstanding, I stood on a couple of knee-high slappers at Segundo Bol, felt the cold water and hot sun, and made it through another day. Tomorrow, a new experience waits. I am to show up as a juror at Federal court in San Jose. Two bouts of civic duty in one week – Just as I breath - I am an American.

7 November – Flat. 70F sun on the water flat. No worries. Arsene on football: "Every single team has more experience than we have. I don't believe strength is linked with experience. It is linked with desire, with talent, with intelligence. You can be intelligent at 18 or 20 and be stupid at 30. Every club and every player gives us a different problem and we have to be strong enough to find a solution." Yea. Still looking to the horizon.

8 November – Swell filled in during the evening, and although it was blustery, there was some good surf at The Steps, The buoys showed 12.5 feet from 300 at 12 seconds. It was tough surf, the take-off spot was narrow and guys were strewn all along the wave. I tried outside, but I had the best luck duck-diving sets and getting the in-betweeners. Tried a couple at Tiburones – but the swell direction, size, and tide conspired to make it less than what The Steps was showing. It was Sunday, and plenty of ardent worshipers were on it.

“Detroit and supporters in Congress essentially argue GM, Ford and Chrysler are too big to fail. They employ 250,000 people in the United States and support more than 4 million additional jobs in other areas of the economy.” As the statement indicates, the auto companies cannot be allowed to fail. They can design fuel-guzzling cars in the face of higher demand for oil and fixed supplies, W can provide tax breaks for those willing to buy Hummers and the like, and they don’t have to compete with foreign manufacturers. I see it like this – socialism for those in the upper tier – those who are making bank while the gas-busters are rolling off the sale’s lots. They made plenty of quick cash, dispensed with the long-term planning, and relied on the government response to the idea that jobs will be lost - “..they employ 250,000 people in the United States and support more than 4 million additional jobs in other areas of the economy”. For the legions of daily workers – it’s free-market economics – the pawns of the corporate socialists. It is the average folks and small businesses that are exposed to the free market, supply and demand, and painful market adjustments. Not the corporate infrastructure. They are too big to fail. Plus - they all got parachutes.

9 – 11 November – Surfed Sunday and Monday as the swell metered down. I kept to the low-tide kelp-ridden hours of the session, but scored a few. Also did a lot of swimming/pulling through the kelp-infested water to retrieve my board. I’ve been surfing cordless, and was ejected from the board several times as I ran aground on island mats of kelp. Have I used the word “kelp” enough? Tonight, the moon rising and the sun setting, I caught a few at Segundo Bol before night overtook day. It was fun and a bit of a challenge staying out of the grabbing brown hands. It was a beautiful evening - orange skies and water ribboned with the moon's reflection.

Exurb - A residential area outside a city and beyond its suburbs, typically inhabited by well-to-do families.

"Real breakthroughs are not found because you want to develop some new technology, but because you are curious and want to find out how the world is" -Anton Zeilinger 2008

Hi Kelly - take care Larrf

Grumpy?

2008-10-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

14 through 16 October – swell still hanging by a thread. Surfed very small, waist to knee-high, second bowl. But, the weather was unreal and the Humpbacks are spectacular.

Whether or not this crisis will mean the end of the neoliberal era will depend on political mobilization — specifically, how successful the left will be in building coalitions behind an agenda that combines egalitarianism with a stable financial system. I would say this: if the left is unable to defeat neoliberalism now, and build some version of social democracy or “leashed capitalism”, then we will never do it. …..Under neoliberalism, financial market players have become accustomed to do as they wish when the market is going up, but to get bailed out when the market is going down — privatization of profits and socialization of losses. Robert Pollin – 10/2008

20 October – Swell started to show today after a weekend of flatness. Unfortunately, it’s high tide all day. Notwithstanding, I went out at the Steps anyway. The bloated conditions kept the crowds low, and I got a couple. The swell is from the south-southwest – 1.8 feet at 17 seconds. Long waits and cold water, but – the Humpbacks were entertaining again.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” President Eisenhower, 1961

“……this is business as usual in Washington. And I think, you know, somebody like Barack Obama, you see somebody with what you would feel are probably very good intentions, and you get the sense that around the Obama kitchen table there’s a lot of heartfelt, well-meaning thought going on, and yet the machine does not care how well-meaning Barack Obama is, doesn’t care how well-meaning the voters are who hope that Barack Obama can make change. The machine is a cutthroat instrument of power. And all the rest of us are kind of cannon fodder in it.”........“And it’s not because it’s, you know, run by evil men like Dick Cheney. That’s kind of incidental. What really is happening is that you have a machine out there that has a vested interest, that simply pulses forward. And the only thing that can slow it is what Eisenhower called an alert and knowledgeable citizenry, basically all of us being deeply engaged. And we’re not, for several reasons that have to do with how our society evolved and how the American way of war took over the American way.” Eugene Jarecki on “The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril”

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the U.S. may be vulnerable to a terrorist attack during the next six months, with violent groups more likely to try to take advantage of a new president and administration. ``Any period of transition creates a greater vulnerability, meaning there's more likelihood of distraction,'' Chertoff said in an interview. ``You have to be concerned it will create an operational opportunity for terrorists.'' Solution – elect the president for life.

21 October – South/Southwest swell pouring in, fall is upon us, and so are the CWC pros. Swell numbers were 2 feet from 205 at 17 seconds to 2.6 feet from 200 at 14 seconds. I surfed Second Bowl Insides with Tenzen – Got some fun ones and for the most part stayed out of the way of the rippers. View of the day had Joe “Sheriff” Clarke piped while pushing with his small watercraft. Joe, the board, and the paddle stuffed. When the foam ball hit, the board took off and it looked pretty dangerous during the spin cycle. Joe came up grinning. I enjoyed the comment regarding my blogary. Hard hitting on the subject of my implied and stated politico, and not too happy with JTH. An important point was made – rant but no solution. Indeed. Solutions would have to encompass the majority – SPB, and I am afraid the level of awareness would have to dramatically increase for any solution to take hold. See the excerpt from Eugene Jarecki posted above. As I have stated here before, for me the solution lies in the local community. Interacting with young people, embracing visitors from outside the county and country, and life’s example and lessons. I’ve also described the core mechanism of revolutions that have taken place in India, South Africa, and Algeria. Not violence, but economic activism. Vote with your money; with your contribution to the work force; with your productivity. In the end, we need to be happy with ourselves. Let us enrich ourselves with our mutual differences. -Paul Valery, poet and philosopher (1871-1945)

22, 23, 24 October – South swell continues to show through the week; picked up again today with the buoys showing 3 feet from 185 at 17 seconds. For the most part I surfed El Segundo Bol, but I did tour Tiburones for a few. Pretty fun - heapings of Indian summer, mats of kelp, and the boyz on the beach. The Humpbacks are still hanging out in front of the Steps; they seem to be lounging in the glassy mid-morning and afternoon sun.

25, 26 October – When I first looked at the surf on Saturday, it was cranking. Long, well separated sets, sunny and glassy, and the crowd had yet to respond. I saw some bombs driving through Tiburones. Wells and a few others had it dialed. But – I had to head over the hill for football. It was a great game to watch, but we got destroyed. Heading back over the hill, my stoke started to burn. I got home, ignored the thick fog, and jammed to the Point – visions of the morning sets stuck in my head. I couldn’t even see the beach through the fog, and most of the boyz I spoke to who had just left the water told me it was bunk. Cross-chopped from an earlier fog wind, low tide and kelp matted, cold, and crowded. I just about turned to go when Hot Dog provided a re-stoke session. In the end, I went out at Tiburones, got a few double-ups, and went home feeling surfed. I repeated the low tide episode today, but no double-ups. The swell was still fun, crowds weren’t too bad, and I only got kelp-launched once – last wave. On the upside, it was freezing. The water, wind, and fog combined to chill deep. On the pro front - Nat Young, part time ripper of the left at Tiburones, won the CWC. It’s good news because not only is he a great surfer – he’s a great kid. Good manners out in the water, good attitude, and a great representative of surfing. The planets and stars have aligned.

Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727)

Voting

2008-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

All right - here's my spin. First, I know some of you are swayed by the "cute" and "cheeky" VP potential, but check the the possible Pres potential shown here. He surfs - what more do I have to say. He's lookin' good in the water - she's lookin' good on ice. Right. Let's look at first principle - the nation's mission statement. I've asked you to consider this before, but I've decided to simplify.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union - Guys around the table, flasks in hand, creating a union of states that require a government - formed by the people.

Establish justice - Sitting around the table, the boyz recognize that justice, transparency, fair treatment, and treating others as you wish to be treated are principles important to the foundation of any government - or people just getting along.

Insure domestic tranquility - The boyz start feeling pretty good after a few flasks and it falls in their lap - it's good feeling good. We need to immortalize this in government. What does it take to insure domestic tranquility? Health, safety, security, food, roof over the head, a job, being part of the community - Surf? Threat of nuclear war?

Provide for the common defense - Given the situation with the Brit, there was no telling. Had to be ready to defend the nation. Considering our history, maybe we've gone a little awry here.

Promote the general welfare - The boyz recognized the fledgling nation required well educated citizens - at least as educated as those conceiving the Constitution. What else goes into one's welfare? Health care? Check out the definition of wellfare in the dictionary, This aspiration overlaps with domestic tranquility - the boyz must have been pretty lit up by this point - that said - nothing wrong with the concept.

Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity - Well said boyz.

Anyways - I'm concerned about the pursuit of peace - internal and external. Security through understanding and helping each other out - Marine Corps replaced by the Peace Corps - eliminate nuclear weapons - a fair resolution to the middle east - treat others as we wish to be treated - allow citizens the dignity to work, live, and die - no corporate/citizen equality, lose capital punishment, rethink the drug war, war on terrorism, war on poverty, and any other wars you can dream up, environment, the rights of all creatures, sustainability, real energy solutions, financial and government transparency, privacy - I know there's more - and we can only accomplish so much each day - what about a short list?

Just dreaming - but we do have an opportunity to vote.

I Am Paying Attention

2008-10-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

I am paying attention - just not on the daily blog. Also, I figure there is already soooo much material out there in the ethersphere, my daily input would be di mimus. How about Tina Fey as Impalin? Epic. How about Palin as Impalin? How about here supporters arguing her benefits and aplitude? No one can blog this stuff. It's real TV. Like a drink of spring water in the desert, there has been surf to distract us from the politcal meyham. So---

7 September – swell actually picked up. On the buoys, it shows that it wasn’t the swell as much as the direction that kicked the swell up. Out at the Bay buoy, the swell registered 2.6 feet at 17 seconds from 210.

8 September – surf was on all day. I surfed the Steps, First Bowl, until my arms fell off and I was thermally drained. Great sets, overhead waves, patchy fog and just a breeze. The Monterey buoy showed the swell at 3.2 feet, 17 seconds, from 195. The Harvest Platform showed 3.2, 17 seconds, from 215. I think the 215 is important – the best direction for the Bay.

9 September – surfed Tiburones as the swell continued to show. Buoys showed the swell at 4 feet, 17 seconds from 195. I started at Bol Primero and then moved down to Tiburones. My first real session at Tiburones this south swell season, and it was way cool. Head high to over head and firing.

10 September – Tiburones for another helping. The swell poured through for the fourth straight day. Hot Dog, Shane Grom, Kneeboarder “shacked” Roy, Bert, Denny, Wells, and the peripheral LBs. It was great fun, started out grey and went to sun with slight wind. There were plenty of waves for all. When Tiburones is good – its way good. Boyz were splitting the right and left with stereo barrels; bombs coming through with rides down toward Privates; and the inside speedway boogie was holding. I know I speak for the boyz when I say, “I’m baked”. The buoys show about 2.4 feet at 17 seconds from 190. Second buoy check in the evening shows 3.6 feet at 14 seconds from 190 – some of my favorite numbers.

11 September – Swell a bit smaller, but still making a stand. Although work precluded me from participating, I did stop to check the Point. I saw great waves – First peak was overhead – down to Tiburones – where shoulder-high walls were cranking. Buoys stay strong 3 feet at 14 seconds from 195.

I read this on the Net - “Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.” What popped out at me was the part about the voters noticing the McCain doublespeak. Lets face it, when it came to the Iraq war, and the Bushspeak that propagated the airways, it was a proven fact that the voting public, lied to as they were, bought it hook, line, and sinker. There was the mushroom cloud, mobile chem weapons labs, Al Quida, and “they’ll welcome us with flowers”. A study was done that correlated the voting public's belief in shit with their propensity to watch those news programs that most vigorously peddled the shit. Now the question is, “will the voting public question the McCain doublespeak train.” Why ask?

12 to 15 September – south swell residual slips through, and every once in a while, a slide is possible through the submarine net of kelp. That said, today’s session showed promise. The buoys read 2.3 feet, at 17 seconds from 190. I rode a few at First Bowl, and it did appear to be picking up. We shall see.

“As it happens, though, not that long ago we had a rare political moment in this country, a moment where the public sat up and took notice of economic policy -- and spoke out and made its voice heard too. When George W. Bush made it to term #2, he decided to try to privatize social security to reward his supporters on Wall Street with a new source of capital, customers, and fees. (Those would be the same people whose firms are now cratering under the weight of the bad debt they recklessly took on while Republican regulators looked the other way). But as it turned out, we Americans were not about to let our elected representatives turn over our social security taxes to Wall Street financiers to gamble with if it meant losing the guaranteed income that has allowed millions upon millions of American seniors to live out their sunset years with at least a basic measure of dignity.” I reprint this to suggest that what Bush did not accomplish for social security was accomplished with health care.

Sure, now you can have a HAS – health savings account – essentially add banks to the list of those siphoning off your health care dollars without providing health care. Supposedly you set up an account with pre-tax dollars up to a limit, and use those dollars for your very large deductible. What I found so far is the bank is charging me fees, so that my initial set-up deposit of $100 was worth $80 within a month – and I hadn’t even used it yet. So that’s how these fuckers keep you paying all their favorites off. No bid contracts with your tax money, performance out the window (the private sector can do it better – Blackwater?), privatize services, short-term profit over people.

16 September – see 15 September except for the kook who dropped in on me thereby hacking my board. Buoy shows 2.2 feet at 14 seconds from 200 degrees.

17 and 18 September – History repeats itself. Surfed First Bowl and Second Bowl. The water was pleasant, the sun was out, and, while it was windy, it wasn’t as bad as the kelp that appeared as the tide dropped. No complaints.

19 September – I’m not sure, but it appears the swell picked up. Got some bombs at First Bowl, and saw some bombs go through Second Bowl, although I only snagged a few inbetweeners at Second Bowl. For sure – not many places where consecutive days can be pulled together. We are lucky. I am lucky. I’m not sure what the ocean was giving up, but the buoys showed 2.8 feet at 14 seconds from 175 with 4.3 feet at 12 seconds from 275. In any case, the combo seemed to work.

I am sure you are all aware of the crisis in the financial sector. We, the taxpayers, will pay. Those who benefited will be mostly be untouched; the rest of us left in the slag with a higher national debt per capita and other more direct challenges. On a positive note, some of the generic media outlets – not many, but some, have surmised that if Wush got his way, privatized social security – aka – Wall Street with our Social Security Trust, SS would have been destroyed – and I don’t think Corpgov would have bailed us out. Or maybe they would have – if we can’t consume – what use are we?

20 – 24 September – Surfed the Steps on the 20th, got a couple, but you could tell the foreign students were back in town (foreign = anyone from over the hill, to the south, and to the west). The swell from Friday had all but disappeared. Surf depressed? We need a bail out.

29 & 30 September – After a lay off of five days, a small south started to show on Monday. At the end of the day, I was at home dicking around, when the Zealand at my house informed me there were waves at the Steps. I had looked at it during the day, and it was flat. But, maybe conditions had changed. I took a chance and went down with my stuff. Sure enough, a little south line rolled through First Bowl, and I could see south lines moving through 38th. I went out, low tide and kelp, but rode high and got a few before dark. I followed up today and got some fun waves at First Bowl, Second Bowl, and Tiburones. The swell before the swell is always sweet. The news is probably out, and the Internet swell is around the corner. Tonight the buoys show 2 feet at 14 seconds from 205.

1 October – Quickly – surfed the Steps; the news is out. Buoys showed mixed swell with the strength coming from a groundswell at 4.3 feet at 14 seconds from 280. It translated into waist to slightly overhead surf – a little slow at the shoulder, but fun. Supposedly more to come – masses too. Biden imPalined tomorrow. I’m going to watch a surf video – how about it DYSM?

2 October – Just five waves. Surfed Segundo Bol shoulder to just overhead. Swell seemed steep with the swell skimming past the reef providing peaky waves with all sorts of shoulder. It was windy and the weather was just waiting to go from fall to winter, At the same time it was warm and muggy. Buoys showed two swells. One from the south, 2.1 feet at 17 seconds from 200; the other was 6.5 feet at 10 seconds from 265. The masses sensed the bounty; and when I was leaving an entourage of pros had arrived. I knew the mayhem was about to begin.

3 October – Surfed Tiburones in the late afternoon. The west swell was dying, and an underlying south swell was providing support. Got a few fun ones, but critical length was quickly achieved as masses left their other pursuits. I took my leave.

4 October – No surf for me today; football was my day. Zealand told me it was small and crowded, and my first look at the buoys suggested this was so. Yes, it’s true, I never saw the ocean myself all day. I’m talking about a virtual surf check. Anyway, 11.4 feet at 14 seconds from 280.

“An American member of al-Qaida pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that "the enemies of Islam" face defeat” – A page out of the Ronny Regan cold war playbook?
Drill, Baby, Drill – I heard them. Drilling is safer now with the advances in technology. Heck, even the fish like the drilling platforms. Drilling off the coasts will not cause environmental damage. Wait – this just in - Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data. They’re just fucking liars. Period. Smoking doesn’t cause health problems either.

6 and 7 October – Didn’t get to surf the weekend – but had great fun with my brood at the football matches. Got back to surf on Monday and Tuesday, had fun in the water, and felt like I didn’t miss a thing. Good First and Second Bowl at just overhead to chest high. And the Humpback whales clearing the water just outside, unreal.

I’m frustrated hearing people say that the O-job hasn’t articulated his plans, like there is enough time in a question and answer debate or quick campaign stop. Plus, time is required to digest. How about a webpage with the details - http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ - and McCain – I mean equal time - http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/. The difference between the two are exposed by just considering the issues listed – check it yourselves.

8 October to date - the surf disappeared only to make a quick reappearence today. Critical legnth was a factor, as well as the kooks claiming "I and I didn't see you". But they couldn't bring down a beautiful day. How about SeaGreen out in the surf ?

One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)

Fall is in the Air

2008-09-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've been busy, but have found plenty of material to chew over between work projects. Well, you know, political conventions and all. And the Fogust lull; finally broke this last week, first predicted as an internet swell - then the real thing arrived. The weather started to go off too. Great combo, but you can't always get what you want - it's high tide all day. Nevertheless, the swell got big enough to hold it. I've jotted it all down in a random sort of way, but first a short science fiction tale.
Imagine a visitor to our planet who has seen it going through the changes wrought by man and nature - mostly man. This vistor was also witness to cultural changes. He saw us lock animals away, he saw us lock each other away, he saw hope in the cultural revolution of the 60's, and saw that hope fade into the vacuum of the 80's and 90's. He saw the advent of global warming and its effects. In the end he recognizes the whole process is just that - a process. With the end of one phase, he was ready to witness the birth of another. Here's the story.

I just want to talk to you
I wont do you no harm
I just want to know about your different lives
On this people farm
I heard some of you got your families
Living in cages tall and cold
And some just stay there and dust away
Past the age of old.
Is this true?
Please let me talk to you.

I just wanna know about
The rooms behind your minds
Do I see a vacuum there
Or am I going blind?
Or is it just the remains of vibrations
And echos long ago?
Things like love the world
And let you fancy flow
Is this true?
Please let me talk to you
Let me talk to you.

I have lived here before
The days of ice
And of course this is why
I'm so concerned
And I come back to find
The stars misplaced
And the samell of a world
That is burned
A smell of a world
that is burned

Well, maybe,
Maybe it's just a change of climate
Hmm,
Well I can dig it
I can dig it baby
I just want to see

So, where do I purchase my ticket?
I'd just like a ringside seat
I want to know about the new mother earth
I want to hear and see everything

Might go well with some music.

I got an idea for the next generation surf contest - the Sharks replacement. PleasurePointSurf Virtual Surftest - The contest is to be held in one day. Contestants can surf wherever they wish along Pleasure Point. In exchange for the entry form and nominal fee for a tee and prizes, each contestant will be given a score form. After a contestant surfs a heat, or heats - wherever and whenever the heat takes place - the contestant must fill out his or her score form and submit via email. The score form will have three sections. In the first section, the contestant will score their best three waves - honor system. In the second section the contestant will provide a narrative regarding their best wave - nothing would be over-the-top. In the third section, the DYSM section, validation of the contestant's surf session, or particularly great wave, will be provided - give witness to your greatness. Once the forms are in - a judging panel will review the forms and rank the first four places. All contestant will be mentioned, and good narratives and DYSM descriptions will get posted. The prizes will be distributed at a groovy surf gig somewhere - we never really need an excuse to have a groovy surf gig - Lance - I may need your help here. I've scrapped together the all important logo - the all seeing eye - the virtual judge - above.

Now - Notes from the Field.
A new government study shows most corporations pay no income taxes in the United States. According to the Government Accountability Office, 72 percent of foreign-owned companies went at least one year without paying taxes over an eight-year period. 55 percent of US-based companies also went at least a year without paying.

Thursday, August 7, 2008 - Georgian forces and separatists in South Ossetia agree to observe a ceasefire and hold Russian-mediated talks to end their long-simmering conflict. Hours later, Georgian forces launch a surprise attack, sending a large force against the breakaway province and reaching the capital Tskhinvali. South Ossetian rebel leader Eduard Kokoity accuses Georgia of a "perfidious and base step".

A week later, Rice regarding situation in Georgia - "Georgia, whose territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty we fully respect, must be able to go back to normal life," she said. And, "The United States of America stands strongly, as the president of France just said, for the territorial integrity of Georgia. This is a member state of the United Nations and its internationally recognized borders need to be respected. The provisional ceasefire must go into place."

But a year ago;
"At least 372 Lebanese, the great majority civilians, have been killed during the conflict, which is now into its 13th day. Thirty-seven Israelis have been killed, about half of them civilians. An estimated 600,000 Lebanese have now been forced out of their homes. The Israeli offensive began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on 12 July. Israeli bombardments devastated Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon and southern Beirut, but also targeted civilian infrastructure including roads, bridges, the international airport and power stations."

Rice was not interested in Israel ceasing hostilities in the Lebanon case. "We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal," Rice said. But she added that if the violence ends only to restart within weeks, "then all of the carnage that Hezbollah launched by its illegal activities — abducting the soldiers and then launching rocket attacks — we will have gotten nothing from that."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters July 18 that “a cease-fire is imperative and we have to keep working to reach that objective.” When asked if a cease-fire should take effect immediately, Rice responded, “We all agree that it should happen as soon as possible when conditions are conducive to do so.” Body count?

Essentially, because it served their purposes, the USAdmin allowed the Israel-Lebanon conflict to continue – no pressure. On the other hand, regarding Russia and Georgia, an immediate cease-fire is being called for. In one instance you have Ossetian separatists attacked by Georgian troops, who in turn are attacked by Russian troops backing the Ossetians. In the other instance, you have Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon attacked by Israel after Hezbollah kidnaps two soldiers– where Israel takes license to destroy much of Lebanon’s infrastructure, although they aren’t directly involved. This is a perfect example of why the globe considers the US biased, self-absorbed, hypocritical, inconsistent, confusing, and just plain untrustworthy.

And the hypocrisy doesn’t stop:
The US state department has said recognition of the two provinces' independence would be "a violation of Georgian territorial integrity" and "inconsistent with international law". No way – “… it was the United States that set an example after it invaded sovereign Iraq and overthrew the local government. It later separated Kosovo from sovereign Serbia.”

All right - can we stop the bullshit and actually act as a fair arbitrator that the global community can trust for just, noble, and humane positions? Leadership that moves away from violence – But how can we be motivated to stop violence when we are the largest suppliers of arms on the planet? What would the market say? MilitaryIndustrial Complex and peace don’t mix.
Let’s get real - Stop?

Once the propaganda machine kicks in, there is no stop. Public opinion is polluted and uninformed, and given politics for what they are, the leadership on all sides just steps to the propaganda stomp – even if they know better. And then there’s the Western Media Outlet – overpowering all other information channels so that even the globe is swayed – at least those whose ear is cupped toward the West. The Russian/Georgian conflict and the Israel/Palestinian conflict are just two examples. If you’re willing to put the time in, you can develop a full-blown story and come to a more informed opinion. After that - dismay that the rest of the voting public doesn’t want to be bothered. United Macho States of America.

A US District court has ordered former White House counsel Harriet Miers to testify and White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to turn over documents related to the firing of federal prosecutors. The Bush administration indicated it would appeal but Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that they will ask the court to step in quickly and temporarily put Miers' appearance on hold while the appeal plays out. If the appeals court refuses to temporarily block the testimony, it would essentially be endorsing Bates' ruling against the Bush administration. Miers likely would have to comply with the subpoena, setting a precedent that would give Congress new teeth in its investigations and weaken future presidents. What’s wrong with this outcome? I don’t understand the part about weakening the president and allowing Mier’s to skip testifying. I can’t say it enough – transparency in government is essential to our understanding of government for the people and by the people. The president or anyone of his advisers need to be honest about what they are up to. Period. It’s not a matter of presidential power. It’s about our involvement in government – if we don’t like what’s going on, we should have the ability to change it. But if the workings of government are hidden from view – How do we know if changes are necessary? Why are those in leadership positions trying to hide their actions? – Actions taken on or behalf, and supposedly for, our benefit. Get over the power trip and advocate transparency – so we are all involved.

Most of August – small south pulses at first bowl and second bowl only rideable at the right tide before tide goes to low and the kelp takes over.

29, 30 August – waist to shoulder high northwest swell with wind swell components second bowl.

2 September – buoys just showing south at 175; internet swell predicted, maybe tomorrow some strays will sneak around the corner and beat the internet.

3 September – no ‘gar – buoys still show a steep swell, and as of 2:30 pm, not much was making it around the corner.

More God talk:
• Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."
• "Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," Palin said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."
• Palin also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."
• Palin even told God how to get it done - "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,"

4 September - south swell has arrived and the masses attend the alter. Unfortunately, I was stuck in Watsonville when the evening session was about to kick off. The Harvest Platform buoy shows 3.5 feet from 180 at 14 seconds. Tomorrow.

5 September – swell still on, it’s Friday, and throngs have made their pilgrimage. The buoys show 2.6 feet from 185 at 14 seconds. My surf check validated the buoy report, and confirmed that the beautiful weather continues. Regrettably, high tide is a factor until this evening – when the east wind may take over – I must chose the worst of two evils. I had fun at the Steps - but where did the wind swell mix come from?

Back to Palin and God. This “God’s will” thing is not good. It takes the place of hard decision-making and relieves responsibility for decisions – a perfect facade for a politician. Let’s consider an example – Palin’s fifth child. While the country is swooning about the fact that Palin is caring for a child with Down Syndrome, no one is questioning the decision to have a fifth child at 44 years old while her husband works and she ambitiously serves as governor. Decision. The decision not to practice birth control - the decision to load more human ecoprints on the globe – the decision to take a significant chance that a physically or mentally impaired child will be brought into existence – weighed against? Maybe there was no decision. Maybe it was “God’s will”. What other decisions will be left up to chance – oops, I mean “God’s will”. My take - You have free will, not God’s will, so use it wisely.

6 September – swell still on - 2.3 feet at 14 from 190. Surfed the Steps with an east wind building the easterly wind swell. Scalloped face made for a difficult session. Got a few, but didn’t feel just right.

7 September – swell actually picked up. On the buoys, it shows that it wasn’t the swell as much as the direction that kicked the swell up. Out at the Bay buoy, the swell registered 2.6 feet at 17 seconds form 210.

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

Doldrums

2008-08-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

We are in the midst of another week of the doldrums. The cattle drive is over, and it's time to go into town for some razing. Some days it's so bad, you can't even get the glide on. Of course, I've heard of some local travels that turned up a couple of waves, but the price of fuel puts a damper on travel. Before the doldrums set in, we had a good string of south swell days complete with great weather and good tides. I surfed the Steps, Segundo Bol, and Tiburones - as did all my friends. No graphic altercations, several close calls, and plenty of DYSM. As I sat between sets during one session - on some days the wait was 20 minutes or more - and counted the mass number - I realized I could account for the LB session in terms of linear feet. Indeed, on one day I counted up at least 300 feet of LB clogging up Tiburones. Instead of critical mass, I'm talking in terms of critical length.

As I retrace my steps down to the Point, to work, and back home, others are treading new footpaths. A friend sent the pic of a recent trip.

It was also interesting to watch the internet swells show up - maybe not at the Point, but surely in the traffic, parking lots, and en mass. Thank Dog for the internet. Swells predicted, plans are made - must surf - must surf - must surf. Still - I love summer.

Notes From the Field.
It has happened in this country. For one reason or another, a person flips – mows down a teacher, lover, coworker – we have a saying regarding the situation - “going postal”. Usually, the misguided temporally insane individual takes his or her own life. Other times, they end up in prison – or death row. Recently, a Palestinian went “postal” and drove his bulldozer into cars, buses, and people. It was a tragedy for those who suffered injury or worse. He killed three Israelis. The event occurred in the Israeli-held portion of Jerusalem. What separates the Israeli incident from the US version is the government response. Like I said, in the US, if the perpetrator lived – it world be prison or death row. In the Israeli case, the perpetrator was killed on the spot; but that’s not enough. Israeli politicians are asking for the home district of the perpetrator to be cut off from the rest of Jerusalem. Additionally, they want residents of the district be stripped of their Israeli ID cards, they want the wall to be moved to cut the district off, and they want the home of the perpetrator, where a wife and children are left, to be demolished. Would that go over in the US? If this kind of collective punishment occurred anywhere else in the world, would the US protest?

“I am greatly concerned about the chilling effect that compliance with the committee's subpoena would have on future White House deliberations and White House cooperation with future Justice Department investigations," Mukasey wrote Bush. J H C! You’re got to be kidding me. Shouldn’t our elected leaders, our government, be chilled? That’s the point of transparency. The whole kit and caboodle should be worried anytime they break the law – just like the rest of us. And how do we know? - Transparency. They should be looking over their shoulders when they act in a way contrary to our interests. Chilled – seriously chilled.

“If rockets were raining down on my house, where my two daughters sleep, I would do anything I could to stop the rockets” – BO in Israel. Makes sense, but that’s not what’s happening. “Anything” is not happening – selective action is happening. Negotiation is not happening. Fair exchanges are not taking place. Humanity – on both sides – is not happening. Violence reduction is not happening. The elimination of oppression is not happening. “Anything I could” is restricted to military solutions, human degradation, collective punishment, isolation, and bigotry. It’s ironic that a black man, whose ancestors and comrades in SA suffered under oppression, accepts the suffering and oppression faced by Palestinians on a daily basis.

I didn’t say it – a BBC post from a world citizen ----Re: Obama backs Israel? Palestinian leaders need to adhere to international law? By far the biggest violator of international law in the entire world is Israel: extra judicial assassinations, routine torture, building a wall on someone else's land, attempting to annex territory acquired by war, transferring its civilian population to occupied territory, using human shields, firing artillery into civilian neighborhoods, denying Palestinians the right to freedom of movement...the list goes on.

Israel says it’s not going to negotiate the fate of Jerusalem until next year. Of course, the fate of Jerusalem is one of the cornerstones of any Palestinian solution. Face it – Islam’s connection to Jerusalem is just as strong as that of Judaism. Israel’s decision coincided with another demolition of a Palestinian residential building in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials say the owner hadn’t obtained the proper permits. Israel has demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes over the last decade. And we gripe about red tags. Just imagine Santa Cruz County bulldozers razing your house on a permit issue.

U.S. total operable refining capacity per day = 17,593,847 barrels => utilization = 88% - 10,000,000 barrels per day import, 5,000,000 barrels per day domestic production – 21,000,000 barrels per day US consumption - U.S. Motor Gasoline Consumption = 9,286,000 barrels/day (390 million gallons/day) - adding more oil to the numbers does not work out to more gasoline and lower prices. But what motivation does Big Oil have to increase refining capacity? Supply and demand favors the status quo. Note that last quarter ExxonMobile posted the largest profit for any corporation in history. Drill? A good election sidebar - and since most of the country does not live next to the ocean - fuck it.

The Olympics suck. A glutfest of digme videos. I'm over it.

Well, I'm sure the natives are restless, with no swell and all. And at the first sign of waves, the word "packed" just won't describe the mayhem. But count me in.

The US government's mission statement was set down in the Constitution by the Founding members. I think it's a good place to start when evaluating a candidate for a government office - like president. So - please read.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. -Patrick Henry, revolutionary (1736-1799

Strong Spate of South Swell

2008-06-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Since my last - long last - log entry, there has been a week of small south in the 1 to 2-foot range from 180 to 190 degrees at about 14 seconds, a couple of weeks of fat wind swell surf, and a sprinkling of summertime weekend south for the masses. More recently, a solid two weeks of south swell kept things busy just as schools were out (or in for surf schools). During the south swell binge that just ended - last night - the swell ranged from 2 to 3.5 feet at 15 seconds from 180 to 210. To complement the good spate of south swell, the weather lined up clear and sunny. I surfed during the good, bad, and ugly days, trying to gain entry during opportune windows where crowd, swell, and vibe were aligned. Some of you may have seen me a bit frustrated - but I assure you the frustration passed as I repeated a mantra I learned from Charlie - just one good bottom turn. Well, the frustration kinda passed. Maybe I had to go home and burn effigies of all the AHs that continually burned me - as if I deserved it (well - it is possible - karma?). Anyway, I haven't given up hope. Isn't that a large part of what surf is about - hope?

While it seems like I was on blogcation - I really was not. In between long periods of diligent attention to work, I was making notes about the daily chain of events that makes no sense what-so-ever; except maybe to the throng of SPB. And here are those notes.

State and Federal authorities are investigating the shooting of sea lions along the Columbia River. Man versus Nature? No - patriotism. The sea lions were shot as they lay captured in traps. The traps were set by the Feds to remove (or destroy) these freeloading seagoing furbags. See, we can’t have these creatures wreaking havoc on the salmon fishery. If not for them, our fisheries would be teaming with the bounties of the oceans. Fortunately, some astute locals saw through the scam. Terrorists disguised as sea lions were lounging in traps until nightfall, at which time they planned to blow up the Bonneville Dam. These vigilant patriots, always keeping one eye out for suspicious behavior, noticed the sea lions eating helpless salmon climbing the fish ladders. Of course, our patriots knew better. Sea lions are found in the ocean, and there are laws about taking salmon from the Columbia River. So, while the disguised terrorists lay waiting in their lairs, our heroes shot’em up. Good thing too. Can’t do too much driving because of the cost, big and small game are becoming harder to find, and the ammo is getting stale. Nothing like an evening shoot to relax - and saving the nation at the same time. Doesn’t get better than that.

On another wonderful note, my wife noticed the Whitewash’s immediate response to the tragedy in Myanmar. A cyclone ripped through the country killing tens of thousands, demolishing homes, and destroying an already shaky infrastructure. Apparently, the Whitewash would have responded just as quickly to Hurricane Katrina if they had known. They didn’t think hurricanes were as bad as cyclones. You know, alphabetically, hurricane comes after cyclone. It’s all right now.

I listened to a BBC interview regarding stock trading in China. There was a question regarding what local investors used to assess whether or not to buy a stock, and when to sell. The interviewer asked if they considered the price to earnings ratio. No; instead they considered whether the government backed the company. With government backing, the company was likely to succeed, no matter what the price to earning ratio indicated. Between the lines, the interviewer suggested that only with tight government control could a market work this way. I considered what was said and examined our own market. Although we tout free markets and a separation between the private and public sectors, I realized here in the US, it is not much different than in China. For example, consider the military-industrial complex. Military = government. Now examine the performance of one major contractor – KBR - fraud, stealing, lost money, poor performance, and whistleblowers – all buzzwords I heard during recent Congressional hearings. Did KBR lose their contract? No. Did Blackwater lose their contract after murdering civilians? No. There are many others. So, if a company can fuck up so badly, and not lose their contract with the government, then they’ve got government backing. Not only that, they have earnings and a secure stock price; hence, don’t worry about the P/E ratio. China is no different than the US in this respect.

Bush – He and his mates are the definition of tartuffe – a hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters.

Listen to US politicians speak at the AIPAC convention and tell me our Foreign policy is not swayed by the Israeli lobby. The US politicians fall over themselves telling the AIPAC venue that the US is Israel’s best friend. I thought a good friend was one who was not afraid to tell the truth. The US is not a good friend to Israel. A good friend would not ignore the history of Palestine, and would not ignore the injustices that occur daily. A good friend would highlight that mistreatment and oppression will only work to institutionalize hatred, frustration, helplessness, and lack of hope - the prime ingredients for acts of violence. A good friend tells it like it is. A good friend looks at the whole story.

Indeed, with AIPAC behind them, even the Israeli politicians are spouting about how they are going to attack Iran because of their supposed nuclear ambitions. The noise level has risen dramatically under the cover of the AIPAC convention. And to solidify our biased opinion, Obama stated to AIPAC, “Jerusalem will not be divided” – meanwhile, Israel continues to illegally build in East Jerusalem. Does the “smoking mushroom cloud” sound like something you’ve heard before? How about giving Israel control over the third most holy site in Islam? Dude, seriously.

A new study shows global military spending has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last decade, with the United States accounting for half the total rise. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says governments spent more than $1.3 trillion on arms and other military costs last year. US spending also accounted for nearly half, at almost $550 billion.

Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa) – treaty to allow US free access to Iraq – period. Sofa – makes it sound like a cushy deal; relax. Hang with the Sofa while the shit hits the fan.

The 574 million acres of federal coastal water that are off-limits are believed to hold nearly 18 billion barrels of undiscovered, recoverable oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the Interior Department. The country each year uses about 7.6 billion barrels of oil and 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. So, essentially we plan on risking our coastal environment for a little over two years of oil.

There you have it. Notes from the field.

Finally, I heard today that Corpgov is upset over the court decision that disallows the military from indiscriminately blasting sonar waves through the ocean column. The problem is that those mammals who call the liquid ether home are subjected to extreme pain and injury. It was described that for humans, it would be like standing next to a Saturn 5 rocket at launching. Corpgov stated the courts world rather protect animals instead of people. Why not? What is the difference between us and those that live in the ocean? And the fires. So many, so soon. We hear about the loss of property - and on a positive note -we haven't heard about loss of live - human life. But what about everyone else who calls the sage brush, manzanita, and forest home? Check the picture out for some perspective.

Last Word - Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914)

Anyway

2008-04-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's been lightdays since my last post, and mainly its because I've been busy at work. After composing for hours on some work product, my concentration for posting evaporates. Plus, the stuff I write for work is enough to turn one to stone. An example:

"In accordance with the sampling procedure, a drill rod will be driven to the target sample depth using direct push technology. The lead drill rod will be equipped with a PRT adaptor that will allow soil gas sampling . The sampling procedure will entail drawing a soil gas sample through an expendable point holder, the PRT adaptor, sample tubing, and into a sample manifold. The sample manifold will be outfitted with stopcock valves, vacuum pressure gauges, a one-liter Summa® sample canister, and a six-liter Summa® purge canister. Initially, the Summa® canisters will be at a vacuum pressure of 15 inches of mercury (inHg). The sampling manifold will be pressure tested and approximately three volumes of gas will be purged from the manifold and boring prior to sampling. During sampling, 2-propanol will be used as a tracer to test for leaks. This is accomplished by placing gauze soaked with 2-propanol along the drill rod, and around valves, joints, and pressure regulators"

Wake up - look at the pic, and snap yourself out of the stupor you were falling into. Indeed, hours upon hours of such drivel. What about surf. Well, I've been somewhat lucky finding "the illusive window" that opens as tide, wind, swell, and humanity come into alignment and create relatively open waist- to head-high walls at Primero Bol and Segunda Bol. A few trips to Tiburones have paid off, but sometimes its seems like the masses have converged on the bullet train right without having a ticket. And how about the water temperature - a balmy 49F. Combined with the wind and extra long wait for waves, the chill factor definitely played a role in my sessions. Ultimately, we are still waiting for the first solid south swell of the southern hemisphere season. And some warmer water.

The prezican campaigns are getting into the middle innings, and the slime is beginning to ooze out from the under the podiums. It's true, I am concerned about what a candidate will do after attending church sessions where ravings may be heard between bouts of deep sleep. Or what a possible prezican will do when he finds himself alone, with no one nudging him in the ribs to remind him of the facts. And who's going to answer the phone at 3:00 am? It's all one can do to get a pants suit on. In the end, if you listen close, you will hear nothing - not even a harmony - just the same note blending into the shallows of SPB.

On the world stage I heard an interesting quote from the Israeli Defense Minister's spokesperson. Regarding the Gaza situation, it was stated, "It's unacceptable that people in Sderot are living in fear every day and the people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual." What is life as usual? Mass retribution, travel closures, shortages of food and other goods. Fuel and electricity - maybe. Cooling, refrigeration, and clean water - maybe. Air attacks, armored bulldozers, tanks, incursions, your house gone, your children gone - hot, hungry, and alone. Low tech bottle rockets are unnerving, a risk to life and property, and indiscriminate. But what has been the damage? Low tech rockets are definitely not the way to move the situation forward, but with no outlook on going forward, the reaction is no surprise. The heavy-handed, unbalanced response from the Israeli government has no payoff except to perpetuate the situation. While the pundits in the States dis President Carter as an old fool, I'm glad he's old enough not to give a shit. He's over there trying to get people talking. Rejecting violence and instead taking up the mantle of negotiation - fair negotiations. Not someone sitting on your chest dictating terms. Thats real - something the Whitewash has no sense of.

Last Word
The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

Falling Off The Cliff

2008-03-02T18:48:00.001-08:00

Just like falling off a cliff , just like a steep tide change, it seems winter is plummeting into spring. Not long ago we had a big winter storm and victory at sea; now we've got those beautiful days that usher in spring. And the surf has been non-stop. I've heard several of the boyz complain (brag) about how tired they are, or lament about how many consecutive days they've spent in the water. Not a bad thing. Surf at the Steps has ranged from solid overhead to waist high, and for the most part, tides have been cooperative. Speaking of cooperative, both surf and tide combined to create great conditions for the Valentine's Massacre. I came down to watch as some great surfers hopped on some 30-year old rockets and ripped the Steps. Ya know - 30 years ago I don't think the boyz quite rode the boards of the day like they do now. Although use of the Steps for weekend contests is out of hand, the Massacre provided some solid entertainment. Surprisingly, we've even had some early south in recent days, and Tiburones showed signs of coming back to life after the winter hibernation. A couple days ago, I surfed some solid south walls - it even brought JH down from Bol Segundo.

Know which presidential candi you want to vote for yet? The choices are slimming down - war or war. Speaking of which, I read the US just launched a new warship partly constructed of steel from the World Trade Center. Seriously, it makes me ill. Are we so small minded and void of creativity that we can only focus on fear, revenge, and power. I would have been happy to hear about some use that promoted world peace - the first of a fleet of floating hospitals we would operate to promote peace through increasing the quality of life for ourselves and others by addressing things like malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and water borne disease. It's obvious that bringing populations to their knees does not build good will, promote world citizenship, or increase the quality of life for anyone. I use the concept of "quality of life" because it was an economic term I learned about while in school that served to convey the concept of a perfect economic condition - a relationship where both parties engaged in a transaction equally increase their quality of life. It does not seem to me the US leadership is interested in optimum.

Well, today's news suggests that the Bush legacy-push with regard to peace between Palestinians and Israel has evaporated. Too bad. He'll just have to be known for lying the US population into war, breaking the law and trying to retroactively make his indiscretion lawful, the clusterfuck called New Orleans, reversing the health-based policy regarding arsenic in water, selling off our public parks to oil and gas exploration and associated environmental degradation, using anti-science to silence the discussion regarding global warming, diverting public funds into the war machine instead of investing in the US, making torture acceptable, generally acting like the idiot he is, and erasing the separation of powers that makes our nation unique. Wow! And there's more.

The featured photo shows Capitola getting some swell.

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)

Mandolin Wind

2008-02-08T22:34:00.000-08:00

The mandolin wind blows in the morning, but by 10:00 the winds hit their normal pattern, and for the most part, there have been plenty of waves since I last checked in. A great west swell showed just today - but that's not it. Surf today was thinking about a beautiful day, fresh air, bottom turns, friends faces, talk story, pack-it-in life. I'm feeling for Paul - aka "Hot Dog" and his loss. His father passed young in years- no warning - a sneaker set. And just minutes after I hear the news, my father calls and tells me about heart trouble, hospital, stints, and everything is fine. Thats why I did more than just surf today. Tomorrow's not a sure thing, but sometimes I forget. Sometimes it's a freight train of news that wakes me from my stupor - hits me hard. I know something about loss, and every time someone I know suffers a loss, I do too. Just a little bit more each time, because I don't think I will ever get over missing those I love, those that have gone before me. I'm sorry Paul.

I don't have much room for anything else - no rant today. Just be thankful, breathe deeply, surf hard, and enjoy it all - everything.

Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

It's a Beautiful Day

2008-01-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Not the band, the day. The first day of 2008 was beautiful and was equal to any summer day - including the lack of surf. The surf not withstanding, I sat on the beach for awhile and soaked in the winter sun. Saw the Fin Hunter combing the upper edges of the tide pools and ran into a couple of Bros spending family time at the juxtaposition of sea and sand. Leading up to the new year I scored some fun surf at the Steps and Tiburones. The swell kicked in, dissipated, and reappeared. Day before yesterday I caught the Steps waist to head high with off shores grooming the lines. I went out in the late afternoon and surfed until dark - a beautiful sunset introduced the celestial sphere. At the end, four were left - Peter and a friend of Peter's on thrusters, me on the quad, and Heday on his fish. As we left the beach a set pushed through - looked like Rights at the Ranch. Thought I would try to repeat on New Year's Eve, but no dice - El Viento Diablo scalloped what would be solid chest to head high lines into close-out junk. It didn't stop Hot Dog.

I look forward to a great year, clean surf and a spirit to match. We have so much; how fortunate for us? Beyond the mountains - so much shit. The prezicans going off and the rest of the globe going through growing pains while an abusive step father looks to control every move. Corpgov recently got permission to consolidate their holdings on media - thereby assuring more control over what the masses hear and see. At a time when education is so important, and must be delivered at accelerated pace to keep up with the times, SPB will be left with a minimum of providers who will look to the bottom line before they serve the interests of the people - and remember - they will be using a public resource to get their propaganda out to the masses. Also keep in mind, there is only Corpgov - not just corporations and not just government - privatization rules.

Let's take it back to the basics - the mission statement for Corpgov - and see how they measure up. To form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity -
Establish Justice - prisons overloaded via the drug war, warrantless spying, held in captivity without charges, torture, preemptive war - others?
Domestic Tranquility - does the current tax system and pay structure contribute to general tranquility - does working all the time and worrying about the next day figure into your idea of tranquility? I'm fortunate - most are not.
Common Defense - doesn't mean starting and fighting foreign wars based on resource acquisition and cultural differences. Nor does it mean spending vast sums of money at the expense of the other elements of the mission statement.
Promote General Welfare - Medical expenses and health insurance - need I say more?
Secure the Blessings of Liberty - Some can afford to do this - I am thankful for the chance.

Our Supreme Father Prez is now attempting to shore up his legacy - good luck. A cartoonist laid his own plan - Bush's grave mustn't become a gathering place for extremists; therefore, Bush's DNA must be destroyed so it can never be cloned. First his carcass must be reduced to millions of tiny bits, the pieces must be dissolved in boiled holy water mixed with cloves of garlic and silver pellets. The residue will be smeared on the pope's crucifix, exposed to the Dali Lama's crystal eye, and wrapped in the Prophet's cloak. Then, it will be shot into the sun - no, he could pollute our sun, the source of life in the soloar system - send him to Alpha Centauri.

Last Word
Be good and you will be lonesome. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

The Solstice Approaches

2007-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of December, and I'm looking forward to the solstice. The days are getting shorter- but soon the days will be getting longer. The winter swells have come and gone with no single swell lingering more than a few days. Some of the best have started out over-head from the west-northwest and finished chest-high as the swell direction shifted to the north. When conditions allow, I surf the Steps - a good take-off, fun down the line, and a blast at the finish - Tres Bol. Tiburones continues to work pretty good while the west in the northwest shows, but as the north takes over, the quality falls. Even so, sometimes it has to do. For me, the combination of local pros, kids, and the masses hanging at the fringes makes the wave at the Steps a remote possibility at times. No problem - a few bottom turns at Tiburones and I'm good until the next time. Well - actually more easily said than done.

The day before yesterday, the view from the cliff looked good, but the Steps was already holding saturation at 1:00 pm. It didn't look like many guys, but the crew was skilled and there weren't many waves getting through. I looked down toward Tiburones and saw possibilities. Meager, but possibilities. I suited up and paddled out. With Poncho on the outside, I decided to hang on the edge of the reef and catch the little walls that hugged the reef while moving down into the cove. I caught a few, looked around, and discovered there were over fifteen guys out. There were definitely not enough waves to support the hungry crew - and no chance of feeding the multitude by miracle. I found myself getting grumpy about the situation - foolish.
To save my stoke, I got out and sat on the beach to watch. Soon I was back in the groove of sun and surf. I don't often make the right choice, but this time I left the beach happy.

Yesterday the swell dropped a bit, so I tried the inside at First Peak. Got some fun waves, but the waves were long on shoulder and short on wall. Today, the swell picked up from the north-northwest, and while Segundo Bol was saturated, Tiburones offered some fun bowls. I surfed until dark and followed up with a long hot shower. One thing for sure, over the last couple of weeks the water temperature has been very chilly.

The comments from the last post suggest we have some brainiacs out there ready to opine on the Red Tide. While I tried to hit an emotional nerve, the marine scientists brought reason into the discussion. Indeed, the Red Tide had been swirling around the Bay for months. And it's true that runoff from agriculture and other human endeavors probably provides the nutrients necessary to build the Red Tide bloom. But attacking a point source versus a non-point source is so much more satisfying. You can only point a finger in a single direction. For example, it's much easier for the public to be coerced into hating Arabs or "Terrorists". A single finger pointed in a single direction. No confusion. So much simpler than having to educate people about culture, history, language, social dynamics - and allowing them to come to their own educated conclusions. I'm sure you can come up with your own examples.

Speaking of education - If you can, find and watch "Battle of Algiers", 1965. The story involves the "terrorists" (Algerian Freedom Fighters) battling to push the French colonialists out of Algeria. It's uncanny how the movie mirrors the news of the day concerning Iraq. The movie is done with actors, but it seems like you are watching a documentary - from the terrorists point of view. The story - down to the scenes of the French torturing captured Algerians - could have been depicting our present situation. The movie provides special insight into the whole dynamic, and should be required watching for the whole of Corpgov and the Whitewash. There would be no question about motivations, what constitutes occupation, and what defines torture.

Just a note on government – Size of government - Military Spending

Category; 2006 (in billions of dollars); 2006 percent of federal funds budget
Current Military Spending; 571.6; 28%
Cost of Past Wars; 263.5; 13%
Total military percent - 41%

Health Research & Services; 393.5; 19%
Responses to Poverty; 241.0; 12%
Interest on Non-Military Share of Federal Debt; 211.5; 10%
General Government; 84.6; 4%
Community & Economic Development; 112.1; 5%
Social Programs; 97.7; 5%
Science, Energy, & Environment; 50.8; 2%
Non-Military International Programs; 29.8; 1%

So while the prezcans espouse how they will decrease the size of government in one breath, and go on to state that they intend to increase the size of the military in the other, ask yourself, "what the heck are they talking about?" - "Religion?"

The picture shows the Ranch during the Big December swell. Merry Christmas.

Last Word
Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right. -Laurens van der Post, explorer and writer (1906-1996)

Winter is Here

2007-12-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

After a checkerboard of surf days - some days on, other off, we had the first macking December swell. The inshore buoy showed 17 to 20 feet at 20 seconds from the west-northwest (280) - from the cliff, it looked like a GIANT wind swell. More later. Leading up to the big event, we had a late fall south swell - probably better than anything we saw all summer. I got some fun waves as the south filled in and the masses were caught off guard. Tiburones was firing with the swell at 4.6 feet from 210 at 17 seconds - in the middle of November. As the south peaked, all the boyz converged on the bowl. Fortunately, many of the LB crew sat outside waiting for the big ones, leaving many fine waves reeling off the bowl and down the line. I did my best not to let the leftovers go to the trash. Amazingly, I made it through the south without any damage. Maybe I'm learning. Many off days and small days followed, and Hot Dog earned a Blue Ribbon. Now back to winter.

We were warned about the big swell, so I went out on Monday for a warm up. It was the first time I had been out since the weekend before, when a fun northwest at Segundo Bol was off-limits due to a contest. I got a few during the contest by combing shoulders that pushed into Three Palms. Anyway, Monday had a little size, but was wind-swell thrashed. Surfed the Steps, steep and fat with the tide dropping fast. Figured it was enough to be prepared for "The Big One". I heard the swell loud and clear on Monday night, and showed up on the cliff Tuesday morning to watch the festivities. As usual, the heavies turned out to battle the big surf. Mostly, I watched guys try to paddle out while moving down the beach in a current that equaled any high-flow river gorge. The Point was messy with mounds of water showing here and there as untouched reefs were brushed by the bottoms of large swells. Elsewhere, many deep water spots were holding. Ed showed me some pictures of Ghost Trees from the water that were unbelievable. Several tow teams were working the point - 30, 40, 50-foot wave faces? The guys riding the waves looked like fleas. Anyway - I understand pictures have filtered out through the WWW - so, check it out - don't take my word for it. I also heard the Sand Pit (SB Harbor) was going off and it was pro-central with Slater taking his pick.

I waited to surf until Wednesday, and went out at Segundo Bol and SB. I had fun, grabbed a couple bombs, and made it back to the beach unscathed. The ocean was more manageable, and conditions at the point were good. I saw many of the crew checking in - Butterscotch, Hot Dog, the up n' comers, DYSM, RasMike, Rick, the Owner, Lance is back, Mrs. Robinson, the Kid - Fly Trap had a bad back. By Thursday the swell had backed down and I got a few low-tide fun ones at the Steps. Today, the swell popped back up, but the swell direction had more north in it, thereby providing open walls, and the period - 10 seconds - kept the water moving. I surfed the Steps and SB as the tide fell out.

Now the rant -
It's amazing that the election sideshow has picked up so much momentum. Our society can barely pay attention for 10 minutes - how can we expect people to make a proper decision after being bombarded for 16 months. No wonder there is no interest on the first Tuesday of November. The population is over it. Anyway, they're just about all saying the same thing - except Paul and Kacunich - two guys the Corpgov Media Machine have ignored, labeled, and dismissed. I'm for anybody who, among other things, thinks the Peace Corps - not the Marine Corps - should be expanded, and who is ready to abolish nuclear weapons.

A new low - I mean another low - torture tapes made by the CIA destroyed before disclosure - to protect the torturers - I understand the CIA protecting their own, except when married to a diplomat who calls out the Whitewash for lying. And the intelligence that we trusted in our sprint to war with Iraq, is being labeled as suspect because it doesn't square with the Whitewash version of "Iranians must die". Oh, by the way, I just watched a football game between an Aussie team and a team from Iran - the goal scorer on the Iranian side was from Iraq - along with several of his team mates. So much for the "US vision of the Middle East".

Bob Marley recognized that the fear mongering power play has happened before and will happen again. His warning in 1976 -

When you think is peace and safety:
A sudden destruction.
Collective security for surety.
Don't forget your history;
Know your destiny;
In the abundance of water,
The fool is thirsty.
Rat Race, Rat Race, Rat Race.

So Cush and Lice are looking to pad their place in history - peace in Palestine - Eight years of opportunity - remember Lice giving the 'raelis the green light for death and destruction in Lebanon? How about packing the peace plan in a US manufactured fast food schedule of six months? I'm fucking sure. Here is a better plan for Cush's history - "Bush should never appear on any list of American presidents. When he dies, his carcass shouldn't receive a state funeral. It ought to be thrown in the trash." I can't remember who said it, but I like it.

Final Word -
If one sins against the laws of proportion and gives something too big to something too small to carry it -- too big sails to too small a ship, too big meals to too small a body, too big powers to too small a soul – the result is bound to be a complete upset. In an outburst of hubris the overfed body will rush into sickness, while the jack-in-office will rush into the unrighteousness that hubris always breeds. -Plato, philosopher (427-347 BCE)

Pic - Santa Ana Fires - provided by KB

Addendum-
What about the red tide? Varying in colors from red to orange to tea-brown, the red tide was with us for over three weeks between November and December. Now, red tide is not new, but I'm not used to seeing it in late fall/early winter for three+ weeks. My theory - why not blame the moth spray? The inert ingredients, heck - maybe the active ingredients, are like some kind of Miracle Grow for red tide. They - Corpgov - sprayed for two days during the evening hours and then it rained, washing it all into the ocean. Then - the bloom. I surfed in it and had no immediate ill effects, but I heard different stories from others. My fear? The algae make a fine hideout for bacteria - including Staph. Those little bastards scare the shit out of me. I understand there are plans for more spraying - what up?

Global Warming

2007-11-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

It seems at every turn, global warming is to blame. Is it responsible for the hideous lack of surf we have endured? I did get some waves early last week at the Ranch, and before that a few days at the Steps and Tiburones. But it seems near impossible to string more than a few days of surf together. Yes, there was the great mid-week pulse that saw Second Bowl get shredded by pros and amateurs alike. I think I counted 50+. As is my MO, I skirted around the edges and had a good time. The swell quickly scurried along its way, and we were back to rumors of surf. I lucked in to some south swell surfing the upper part of Hollister Ranch on Monday and Tuesday last week, looked for surf during the intervening period, and had a cold, chilling surf at Bol Segundo today. My Ranch trip got me to thinking about traveling - something recommended vigorously in comments to past posts.

First there's the preparation. You want to go de minimus, but you have to be prepared. Above all, there's the question of what board(s) to bring. It's not like you can go back to the house and grab another board if the one at hand is not suited to the conditions or breaks. In the end, you pack to much, struggle with more than one board, and loose sleep contemplating all the barrels you're going to score.

Next, there's traveling. Off to the airport at some sketch part of the night; a ton of shit in tow. Or how about the drive to a nearby, out-of-the-way spot. For example, my Ranch trip had me up at some ungodly hour, 3-1/2 hours on the road, few hours of surf, some sleep, more surf, and another road trip. In contrast, at home I can roll out of bed at any time, cruise only sixty seconds down the road , and get good surf - comparable to many great spots around the globe. In addition, I don't have to lug my baggage around, the trip home is short, and I can quickly hit the couch after a hot shower.

Once the initial journey is complete, the surf awaits. For some reason, I have been lucky on most of the trips I've gone on. But nothing is for certain - especially surf. One can travel to the ends of the earth - and find a lake. Of course, when you get back home, you can't let the crew know you struck out, so your story becomes embellished. Usually, it was at least overhead. Pictures help - especially ones with you ripping - Hot Dog. Remember, I am talking about us commoners. When the pros travel and strike out, there's always golf at some swank country club, hanging with the stars, outing with sponsors at sponsored events, and the inevitable secret spot that's holding waves when everywhere else is flat. At home, when you arrive at the spot and find the surf is flat, you can make the quick trip back home to hit the couch, no worse for wear.

Lodging. The surf trip usually includes some form of lodging - typically proportional to the amount of money you spend. Camping is at the low end - but great fun until you reach the age where your back needs more than a flat surface to lie on. Then, there's the high-end resort. Three squares a day, ceiling fan/air, a bed, and maybe even netting. Cocktails extra. In any case, it's not like eating and sleeping at home. I don't know about you, but my bed at home is a sacred place in which I worship the back of my eye lids for extended periods of time. There's no place like home.

Don't get me wrong - I love traveling, hanging with friends, surfing new waves, meeting new people, and expanding my horizon. I just want balance the adventure with the work.

Corpgov - the rhetoric from Corpgov never ceases to amaze me - arrogant and condescending at the same time. I am not stupid, but Corpgov must think I am. For example, consider this exchange from Ms. Lice. - "I think that there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary." Rice after meeting with Putin - amazing coming from an administration puppet who is complicit with the largest grab for executive power in our nation's history. Independent judiciary? Lets consider the actions of our own judiciary - Hypocrisy - an understatement.

Lice goes on regarding government in Russia and the notion that citizens rights are threatened - "the rights of individuals to liberty.. the right to assembly, the right to not have to deal with the arbitrary power of the state", Ms Rice said. - Right to assembly - Republican Convention in NY - police arrest and hold protesters for over 24-hours, not fitting the infraction. Reason: control right to assembly - just one example of tactics being used. Arbitrary Powers of the State - special renditions? Consider the recent supreme court case I mentioned in an earlier post, or how about Blackwater? What about warrantless spying on US citizens or Corpgov media control and spin?
Dude, Seriously

Another thought - It dawns on me that as corporations merge, the options consumers have for dealing with companies that aren't linked to the government get fewer and fewer. While it is apparent that mergers have not benefited the consumer with better service, cost, or competition, the underlying benefit to Corpgov in gaining control over the masses is large, but mostly obscured.

The pic above shows a wave at Newport during the recent SoCal fires - it was firing onshore and offshore.

OK

What's On Deck

2007-10-11T23:59:00.001-07:00

The figure shows the "tea leaves" used to make wave predictions. The modeled storm and wave track shows a huge north/northwest swell coming our way. Internet swell or reality? Hot Dog, you took down Slater?

Internet Swell

2007-10-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

After another long spell of small to non-existent surf, a swell logged on to our domain today. The swell was about 13 feet from 295 at 12 seconds. It was fortunate for the CWC boyz and all their corporate soul - a contest with no waves doesn't get headlines. Of course the crew had been brimming about the swell for a good week before hand, the swell having been divined by their favorite internet gypsy. The pic shows Hot Dog dreaming of the session he was going to have once his internet gypsy told him a swell was coming. Needless to say, the masses welcomed the change in the ocean's surface topography. I saw some great surfing at Second Bowl - Noe, Hot Dog, SS, Kirk, DYSM, Hunter, Pat, and many other notables. Given the horde, I surfed the fringes and got a couple into the low tide.

Paint it red - a surf school partisan tried to wash the truth. Unfortunately, they can't wash it out of the lineup. As I was paddling out after a wave I watched some LB graduate paddle for a wave, stand up, and T-bone the Kid (Collin). The Kid was out test-riding his new board. When he surfaced, I thought he was going to blow a gasket, but that's not the Kid. The kid was wide-eyed, but just called the guy an idiot and started checking his board. I asked him if his head was alright, but he wasn't interested in his body injuries, the board was on his mind. Apparently the fact that his body was sandwiched between the LB and his new board saved his board.

A couple of things caught my eye since my last entry -

Chertoff - the wall along the Mexican border will improve the environment in the southwest. That will get the Sierra Club involved.

U.S. top arms seller to developing world. A follow up on our Middle East Deal. Bottom line is war makes money and peace is for pussies.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs, in a official meeting with British MPs states, "I hate all Iranians" - substitute with Israelis, Jews, or Africans and its deemed a hate crime.

So - Corpgov screws up and the screwee wants accountability. Off to court. In two cases recently decided , we see there is no accountability for Corpgov. In one case, a German citizen kidnapped by the CIA, held for five months, tortured, and dumped in Albania took his case to the Supreme Court. The court decided they could not even hear the case, agreeing with the White Wash that national secrets would have to be divulged. Not even a sorry (I despise "sorry").

In another case, an Israeli military-operated bulldozer ran a US citizen over as she stood in front of a Palestinian home set for demolition. She was wearing a fluorescent orange vest in full view of the bulldozer’s driver. The girl's parents want Caterpillar held liable on grounds it knew the bulldozers were to be used to demolish homes in violation of international law. Caterpillar based its defense on proving the bulldozers were in fact paid for by U.S. military aid to Israel. More secrets.

On a brighter note, I challenged a failure to stop ticket I got in Hollister via written declaration and was found not guilty. My defense was based on an argument that the temporary stop sign I failed to stop at was of faulty design. In fact, I think they got half way through my written defense and decided it was too much to read and let me off.

Another classic statement made me stop - "It's time for gentiles to repay their debt to the Jews," said an Evangelical attending a Yom Kippur festival in Israel. "Without the Jews," he said, "there would be no patriarchs, no prophets, no messiah, no salvation." I'm a Himdu.

I'm going to admit here that I am a fan of the singing cowboy - Gene Autry. I like that old country western music, and I enjoy his simple B&W movies. Recently, I found he had a cowboy code which he provided kids who wanted to be like him. Check it out.

1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage.

2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him.

3. He must always tell the truth.

4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.

5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas.

6. He must help people in distress.

7. He must be a good worker.

8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.

9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation's laws.

10. The Cowboy is a patriot.

Well - a little to straight for me, but wouldn't hurt our cowboy president to adopt a few.

A word from Ahmadinejad: "In their (Corpgov) view, human rights are tantamount to profits for their companies and their friends. The rights and dignity of the American people are also being sacrificed for the selfish desires of those holding power."

Change to the Corpgov scheme comes hard - check India chucking the British and elimination of South Africa White Rule. One common thread - non violent struggle based on hitting Corpgov were it hurts most - money. Boycotts brought Corpgov to terms with those it was suppose to serve. Here's the deal - Buy Nothing Day - November 23, 2007 (USA and Canada), November 24, 2007 (international). History shows it works. One day is a start, but it also gives notice. Voting for demons or repugnants will do little to change the current scheme.

It's the last said, but most important - Jason "Penguin" and Shane are getting married spring next year - Penguin is so stoked, he told Fly Trap he could slam him in the head with the green plank and he wouldn't get pissed off. I'm happy for them and hope they stay together for the duration - Red Tails.

Rise of Fall

2007-09-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

I've had some fun high tide surf during the last several days, waist to head high at the Steps, some Tiburones, but tonight it all went away. Hot Dog is looking good on his new bat-tail quad, I haven't seen DYSM, and the pixie squad is getting thick. The other day, about 10 minutes after school let out, the pixie line stretched from the top of the stairs all the way to the bottom. They paddled out and proceeded to hit the lineup like ants at a picnic. Entitled. The next generation. Generation-E. I can't help but notice.

Regarding Peace: Over the weekend there was a protest in DC. The protesters marched, had a "die in", hopped barricades keeping them from the Capitol steps, and got arrested. Apparently there were over 100,000 people protesting and 190 got arrested. "end the war now". What caught my eye was the news of counterprotesters - I guess pro-war protesters. I understand they chanted "U-S-A" and waved flags. What else? I mean, how do you protest for war? "1-2-3-4 we want more war!", "death and destruction now!","BOMBS NOT FLOWERS!", "peace is for pussys!", etc. Seriously, it was reported the counterprotesters were clad in camouflage, American flag bandanas, and Harley Davidson jackets (likely just bad reporting - the people who really like the war wear suits and ties and are making big dough). The counterprotesters assured; "Terrorists, we will find you and kill you" Christian like. I feel safer.

Regarding Mercenaries: I've spoken about Blackwater and other government contractors that blur the line between government and corporations. Remember, when the government says they didn't spy on you or kidnap your friend, they're telling the truth - transparent government. In reality, some corporate contractor did it for them. Well, after riding rough over the Iraqis, killing a family in a car that didn't stop when the security contractors ordered it, and general aggressive behavior,the Iraqi government told them (Blackwater) to split. Of course I didn't think it would last because there isn't really any Iraqi government - just Corpgov. Sure enough, I was proven right the next day when the Iraqi government (CorpgovUSA) backed down on their initial decision. Apparently a call from Lice is all it took. US government comes to the aid of a US corporation - ghost mercenary firm saved - I like this description: "They're famous for being very aggressive. They (Blackwater) use their machine guns like car horns. But it's not the goal to kill people." I'm fucking sure - blowing off machine guns like horns, but gee, we don't want to hurt anyone. Any idea who's behind the Iraqi Oil Law? - CorpgovUSA?

How About Iran: the jawing is worse than a loud day at the Hook. Check it.

The U.S. hasn't taken any military "options off the table." She (Lice) said that "it can't be business as usual" with Iran, a country whose president has spoken of wiping Israel off the map. (Professor Juan Cole has already made it clear that the Farsi translation that ended up with “wiping Israel off the map” was completely wrong, but that hasn’t stopped propagation of the phrase)

So Iran says: "We have drawn up a plan to strike back at Israel with our bombers if this regime (Israel) makes a silly mistake," Iran's deputy air force commander, Gen. Mohammad Alavi, said in an interview with the semiofficial Fars news agency. And Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar told the official IRNA news agency that "we keep various options open to respond to threats. ... We will make use of them if required."

Not to be outdone - CorpgovUSA says: comment "is not constructive and it almost seems provocative." What did Corpgov say to start the jawing?

Not to be outdone by anybody: Then Israel says: "Unfortunately we are all too accustomed to this kind of bellicose, extremist and hateful language coming from Iran." Extremist and Hateful language? Who said what? I get the sense a giant clusterfuck is in the making.

I don't know what to think. I hope the surf is fun tomorrow - I need a break.

A Dark Haze Obscures the Day

2007-09-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Couple of waves before the weekend, especially Friday when the swell poked in unannounced. Got south-swell Tiburones with some of the crew, but relatively empty all day at waist to head high. That's surf. Of more concern is today's anniversary, all but forgotten in the haze of lies, power trips, corporate greed, "shock and awe", and general inhumanity. Throw in immigration to distract SPB. It's hard to reflect on this day's anniversary - the mirror's been shattered and the pieces strewn about. Many philosophers have considered our nation's chosen course - long ago Confucius (479 - 551 BC) said, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves". Hits home, does it not?
Peace

Holiday

2007-09-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

Leading up to the Labor day weekend, the surf struggled to make a showing. I heard about people surfing "up the coast", "at the beaches", and "down the coast". And of course, there were those who had just returned from Baja Sur, Centro, and the Islands. Yes, they all had story of waves - too bad for you town-folk. Starting the middle of last week, I began leaning how to surf again; but it was tough getting in tune on shin-slappers. By Wednesday I started feeling like I could bottom turn, and I had grand plans on surfing Friday morn before I left for Sonoma on a football (soccer states-side) trip. In the mean time, I got some fun ones with Rock. As he scored the wave of the day, Rock politely asked if I would join him, but his body language suggested that he was going full steam and I entered at my own risk. I didn't

It was a chore for me to get up and surf early Friday, and I was there only to see the idiot wind blowing from the mouth of the Pajaro Valley. I went out anyway, and it sucked. Started at Tiburones - close outs with ill-wind double up, and finished at Second Bowl with some waist-high two-turners. Hey -I got wet. My trip to Sonoma was cool. Found a hip "Summer of Love" record shop in Sebastopol, and Santa Cruz U14 won the football tournament with a Golden Goal in the second overtime.

As is the fashion, the south swell picked up while I was away - it was a holiday and the rule is south swells show up on weekends, holidays, and when there is a contest. I checked it this morning and it looked.....all right and crowded. The idiot wind was blowing, so it wasn't very clean and the tide was rising faster than Penguin's blood pressure when faced with a LB going straight. I saw Hot Dog and Coach dominating so I decided to chance it and wait for the evening session with a quickly falling tide. No dice - still lame. Tomorrow - part of a surfer's existence.

There are those among us who actually see. We may not know it, because we usually judge from the outside. One of those is C. Green. The Mayor dipped into the archive and found evidence that shows CGreen saw what was coming. Awhile back, he wrote a parody regarding our waring nation, religion, and our heroes. He got it right on. Writing in the form of a letter, Kernel Corporal J. N. Green pleads "Bring the war home to Christian Soil". Here is an excerpt:

"Happy Holidaze.... I, Kernel Corporal J. N. Green shall make many an effort and wish, and indeed, prayer to "bring the war home to Christian soil", where our women and children's prayers shall be put to work toward the opposition of dysfunctional worship and unholy conduct upon the heathen grounds and demonic shores, as so demonstrated by our opponents of overseas territory. Most importantly, during this beloved holiday gift season, the war must - I repeat, must, be delivered home to Christian soil immediately."

Sea Green goes on to ask: "Do you often find yourself thinking about joining the service?, Would you rather be a P.O.W. or M.I.A. than a common civilian? Is the national anthem played daily in your household?" Invoking the names of General Robert E. Lee, the Honorable Patron Saint Custurd, George C. Scott, Lee Iyakoka, and General Douglas McArathur, Green states "our soldiers shall be proudly empowered to protect our U.S. women and children and civilians alike....bring the war home....bring her home now." What was this guy thinking? So, if you see Green riding around town, recognize the genius. Rove beware.

Last thought: Ever heard of the technological Singularity? The point when AI equals and surpasses our own intelligence. It is argued we are approaching this paradigm shift at a double exponential rate. Here is an excerpt from an article that talks about a facet of what Singularity will mean.

"Using virtual reality goggles to mix up the sensory signals reaching the brain, they induced the volunteers into projecting their awareness into a virtual body. Participants confirmed they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it."

"This is essentially a means of projecting yourself, a form of teleportation. If we can project people into a virtual character, so they feel and respond as if they were really in a virtual version of themselves, just imagine the implications."

Some projections regarding Singularity have humankind uploading our eminds and functioning at some level in a virtual web world that makes the WWW look like an old nickel paperback. The excerpt above suggests it's more than possible, and just around the corner.

The pic shows local grom Kane tracking at Second Bowl. Good thing he's in school.

Nothing

2007-08-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

What a dismal summer surf so far. Not too long ago I was bantering topics like crowds, kooks running me down, pros taking over, surf schools, and my general discomfort with the summer masses. To continue on these topics would require surf - a slim commodity. Sure, I've had my share of SB ankle snappers and the LB cruise - it was all so "fun", but fuckin' A, my patience is wearing thin. The way things are now - I have nothing to say about surf anything - not schools, kooks, pros, crashes, dings, T-bones, Tiburones, Steps, Hot Dog, the Pack of Hot Dogs, Terry, DQ, Flytrap, Penguin, surfing elsewhere, swell direction, water temp - anything to do with the surf. It's been flat, piss-ant, lame, wanting, small, weak - all those things and more. Got a new stick from Bert - but who cares - can't ride it. By the way Penguin, it's clear. On the bright side, I hear Penguin graciously left his house in SoCal to the Mayor for a Summer of Love anniversary party. Cover-bands (the originals are all old or dead now), free drugs (Advil), and free love (porn from caveporn.com). Forty years ago, the blight of the conservative movement ripped through our country - peace, love, and harmony - not the words a war profiteer wants to hear. Free love (not sex idiot), acid tests, music, art, and the environment. The Mayor has visions of bringing back 1967. Peter Max, Andy Worhal, Hendrix, Greatful Dead, Griffin, Airplane, Dylan, Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), Alan Watts, Huxley, sexual liberation, hash, LSD, 'rooms, livin' in the Islands on nothing, war protests, the draft, vote at 18, Kent State, shortboards---------. My gosh - what are we leaving behind now? There were down times too, but I was young and everything was a trip - literally. Flower Power!

Where are we now? Here are two milestones. One, Ms. Lice, our illustrious SofS suggests that we now face the single most important single-country challenge to US interests in the Middle East and "to the kind of Middle East we want to see". Our solution - sell arms to our "friends". This benefits the WarCorps and keeps everybody looking over their shoulder. And as in Iraq, arming our friends will in turn allow us the pretense to attack our friends once they turn their weapons on us. Of course, if we give weapons to Arab states, we must double what we already doubly give Israel. Here's the break down: $30 billion for Israel (on top of our already over zealous funding of their military), $13 billion for Egypt, and $20 billion for Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and the UAE. The idea is that all these countries need to fear, and thus protect themselves, from Iran - a country that has never acted aggressively toward the Arab states or Israel. Again - milestone one. Click on the figure above for more info on the weapons trade.

Milestone two - three coequal branches of government merge into one executive imperial unitary WarCorpGov. Proof - Supposedly, since we can't figure out where phone data, or any other edata originate from (this we are told is because of new tech routing stations located in the US), the WarCorpGov must spy on everyone and everything to keep us safe. The bother of going to court for a warrant could result in an attack - hence, no warrant, no probable cause - we are all to be watched and those whom we entrust will protect us - no mistake. Congress voted for it, the executive wanted it and signed it, and the Supreme Court - who already installed Bush to begin with, will likely 5 to 4 any trouble. Trust no one.

Happy Birthday Mom - I'm thinking of you. You're not missing anything important - I'm sure this shit would just piss you off. But, I wouldn't mind having you around.

Truth is life. Truth is death. Without death there is no life, no truth. Against the backdrop of death is life. How bright is life against the backdrop of death, burning on our mind's eye the truth becomes clear.

What was, What is

2007-07-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

We had a fun south swell over the 4th of July weekfest, but now we're on the downslide. While it seemed the surf was all but gone, I showed up Monday and found some lingering south sets framing the low tide window. Surfed knee to waist high Tiburones with Townsend until the tide pushed in to close the window. Tuesday, the swell was meeker, but still managed enough to allow a few turns on a handful of waist high curbs at La Bol Primera. Today, the fishing looked better. On that note, I have heard stories regarding catches of halibut, sea bass, striped bass, and bat rays. I'm rigged up and ready.

The comments that followed the last post bring up a good point regarding surfing, crowds, and attitude. Some of the narratives posted here may give the reader the idea that I am complaining about my fellow team riders, or surfing in general. I do try to recall the fun, but not to complain. Instead, I try to impart the flavor of the day. Kind of like reporting on a crash during the Tour de France. I'm not impartial; I'm in the race. Let's face it, some days our bros find: the grass is greener; thou shalt not covet....; what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine; the rich get richer; land grab; possession is 9/10-th of the law; I thought you said go, I didn't think you would make it; I only get to surf on the weekends; you get to surf all the time; I thought you were going left; you just caught the last two waves; that guy's a kook, over 50 rule - bottom line - we get greedy and I'm not immune. In my view, you've got to squeeze the fun out and stay positive. We are engaged in one of the greatest cultural activities life offers. Each day I wake with adventure waiting at the end of the street. My gosh, how could I complain. Charlie said it best - "One good bottom turn". Some days, it's easy to get grumpy, but check the view, get a lung full of fresh ocean air, watch a ripper, groove on the wildlife, bottom turn, paddle hard, get pitched, take evasive action, or ride dog style. All this said, I'm still going to provide commentary regarding the mayhem; it's part of the fun - the story.

Another point made in the recent flurry of comments that rings true is the idea of mixing it up by surfing other breaks. I agree. It's often a humbling, exhilarating experience, and definitely adds to one's surfing toolbox. Moreover, stocking the memory banks is key. Thank you commentators.

The Beltway: Romney took questions from about 150 people in West Palm Beach. He said he would like to use the country's leading marketing minds to help sell the idea of American values in the Middle East. How arrogant, what is wrong with the values that have served middle east cultures for thousands of years.

Better yet - The MLS will try to create 'Beckham-mania' in US cities, having already used the promise of tickets to a Beckham visit in every MLS city this year to sell tickets to other matches and help lure sponsorship dollars to every club. How about combining the two marketing efforts - "Beckham Valumania"

About US Leadership: What is it about, say, hard-core sports fans or twenty-something post-sorority girls and pot-bellied frat guys gathering in hordes and drinking so heavily two or three times per week and every single weekend that they can't see straight and fall out of their restaurant chairs and break a tooth on the ceramic tile and throw up in their hair and don't know who they slept with as they fry so many brain cells they finally move to Texas and become president of the United States?

Last Word: Chuck Norris doesn't surf, he walks on water.

Fireworks

2007-07-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

It's late, but the fireworks continue - as does the swell. After two solid weeks of lake-like conditions, a swell started to show on Sunday; just in time for the Fourth of July Holiday. Sunday's waves were small, fifty-fiftys. I belly-boarded as many as I stood up on. By Monday the swell had picked up to the stand up variety. The east wind never materialized, so I surfed in the evening with a few of the boyz. It was a beautiful evening, and in no way foretold the mayhem to come the following day. The swell picked up on Tuesday, the buoys showed 3 feet from 180 at 17 seconds. I surfed Tiburones and saw everybody - everybody. I was allowed to ride some thigh to waist high waves, but the set waves were off limits. Several of the established crew made sure that if I took off on a set wave, the only "face" I would see was that of their neoprened back end. No matter. Today, I could only gaze in wonder as great waves poured in at the Steps and Tiburones while the masses went off. Crowded doesn't quite give the total picture. Ever seen ants froth after their ant hill has been disturbed? I retreated to the house and used my time more productively by working - ahhhhh! I surfed the Fourth in the evening, when I figured the masses would be getting tuned up for an explosive night. The sets were coming in and the crowd was light, but the east wind worked to morph the waves into a "maybe I missed the window" surf session.I got a few. I need a new plan if the east wind is going to be routine.

Well, it comes as no wonder. Money and power, the ultimate weapons, seem to run the show. A well connected friend receives a "get out of jail" card, developers build monstrosities to the dismay of neighbors and the delight of government money grabbers, and surfers are priced out of their life. A friend came back from Mex and told me that a well known Corp PowerSurf paid off a town to close the nearby surf spot so that he and his well-connected friends could dominate like they do everywhere else they go. To bad if you showed up after spending your hard-earned wad only to find you were SOL - Hey man, are you on the invitation list? Who do you know? That started some fireworks.

Word play - As the Demos suggested that the military disengage, reduce numbers, and move to border positions, the Repugs shouted "cut and run" . Now, as the election cycle of 2008 turns, Repugs are suggesting "responsible military disengagement". Sounds to me like "cut and run" dressed up in a fine suit. There's no hypocrisy in our political system.

Final word - Therefore living a life without control, without the action of will, decision, direction, achievement. Is that possible? If it is not possible it is not meditation. Therefore life becomes superficial, meaningless. And to escape from that meaningless life we chase all the gurus, the religious entertainment, circuses, you follow? All the practices of meditation. It has no meaning.

Virtual Jawing

2007-06-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

I have not been out since Monday last. Why, you might ask. Lake Titicaca has bigger waves. I guess with all the slack time, the boyz have had a chance to test their jaw power online. Check the comments from the last post; it reads like a jaw session with the Penguin on top. Keep it up boyz - we need the practice. The masses are getting nervous, just like lemmings before they make the leap. Rumors of swell, long drives to find waves, and smoking surf wax. This is a time when the mind begins to regurgitate all the surf of the past - reliving speed runs, off-the-lip whacks, cut backs, tube rides, DYSM. There's probably a run on surf vids, the beer tab is up, and finger nails are chewed to the bone. Of course the swell predictors have a line on the next swell, and so the masses are planning accordingly. Let's see - the swell should be here July 2 at 5:45 pm. The east wind will be blowing, so if I crack it on July 3rd, I should get some waves with only 50 guys out - score! Dude, seriously - I did spy some storm forecasts for the southern hemisphere and it looks like we might get something during the first week of July.

As the Beltway turns - don't believe one word. Think for yourself, research, and makeup your own mind. The power mongers are spending tons of money to turn off your mind and turn you into a zombie. A freedom loving, red, white and blue zombie. Watch out for the words that hit below the belt - children, seniors, troops. Start by reading the Constitution. It's short and sweet. While you're at it, check the 9th Amendment. It hints at rights that may not be generally recognized, and suggests that the general clamp down on our rights is not what the founders were writing into the commander-in-chief job description. The 9th simply reads; "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage other retained by the people." Think about it - other rights retained by the people like questioning authority, or the right not to be herded by religious cowboys. The right to be free from Corpordinatio - the right not to have your information bought and sold like stock. The right to opt out of consumer marketing.

Insight into the founders -

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws. -John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826)

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)

Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, enemy to none. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

I can't see these guys being stoked on the turn of events that have unfolded over the last six years.

Aloha

Hot as Heck

2007-06-16T21:28:00.001-07:00

I'm out in the central valley - with the kids. That's why it's hot as heck. You know, the place you go ifn' you don't go to heaven. It's heck over here. Pulled in, and it was over 100 degrees. I was going to heck in a hand basket. I mean, a heck of a lot of black pavement. Heck, I'm not fool'n. In any case, I've been watching the buoys, just so you guys can't tell me "you missed it" without me really knowing if I missed it. It looks like a swell is starting to pickup from the south. I saw swell at 1.7 to 2.2 feet from 180 to 200 at 14 seconds. Definitely a positive improvement since I left town. Figures. It's just like when you get out of the water after waiting 30 minutes for a set. You're on the beach looking back at the lineup when you see the set of the day rolling in for all the bros you left behind - you've become the sacrificial lamb. So it is for me in heck. Drink your fill boyz, and remember who brought the waves.

Food for thought: Food sovereignty is all about ensuring that farmers, rather than transnational corporations, are in control of what they farm and how they farm it

Mr. Putin

2007-06-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

The surf has been small since the south flurry hit us during the end of May and beginning of June. Surprisingly,we are getting some moderate to very steep windswell from the north. Kinda fun, but kinda guttless. Waist to chest high at the Steps and Tiburones - had some surf time with Hot Dog and the young, young rippers going left. These guys are sooo young, the surf was overhead - but great vibe. Hot Dog - we're way closer to 2 Bucks - it will always be that way. I heard from the Mayor that Penguin is well. Good to hear. He made a point of describing all the lefthanders he has visited. Regarding comments on the last post, both from Sean, Penguin and others, it was great to get a good history lesson and positive thoughts on the Fiesta. Seems like it can only get better. Thanks for the comments - Gustav et. al. - thanks for circa 2007. More windswell on tap and the weather has been beautiful. What a wonderful place we live in. On the flip side, it's fooootball in Modesto for me. A cool 90.

I'm not sure if any of you check CSPAN in the late hours, but recently, at the close of the G8 summit, they broadcasted an interview with Mr. Putin of Russia. With our "war on terror" going on and our plan on installing missile systems at Russia's doorstep, I was interested in hearing him answer questions. These questions were not the canned sanitized variety we shoot at our president and other US leadership. It was tough - but he answered the questions with honor, respect, knowledge, and passion. He was not evasive like our own - but forthcoming, articulate, and intelligent. At one point a protester stood up, made a statement, and handed out some fliers. He spoke in German. Security did not jump into action and stop the protest - instead, Mr. Putin spoke with the lad, in German, and asked for one of his fliers so he could consider his issue further. This was not what I was use to seeing from our President. A close friend also saw the press interview and shot me an email expressing his thoughts. It was a great treatment on the subject - so - I copied below. Consider.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an hour and a half-long press conference which was attended by many members of the world media. The contents of that meeting---in which Putin answered all questions concerning nuclear proliferation, human rights, Kosovo, democracy and the present confrontation with the United States over missile defense in Europe---have been completely censored by the
press. Apart from one brief excerpt which appeared in a Washington Post editorial, (and which was used to criticize Putin) the press conference has been scrubbed from the public record. It never happened. (Read the entire press conference archived here
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17855.htm)

Putin’s performance was a tour de force. He fielded all of the questions however misleading or insulting. He was candid and statesmanlike and demonstrated a good understanding of all the main issues.

The meeting gave Putin a chance to give his side of the story in the growing debate over missile defense in Eastern Europe. He offered a brief account of the deteriorating state of US-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War, and particularly from 9-11 to present. Since September 11, the Bush administration has carried out an aggressive strategy to surround Russia with military bases, install missiles on its borders, topple allied regimes in Central Asia, and incite political upheaval in Moscow through US-backed “pro-democracy” groups. These openly hostile actions have convinced many Russian hard-liners that the administration is going forward with the neocon plan for “regime change” in Moscow and fragmentation of the Russian Federation. Putin’s testimony suggests that the hardliners are probably right.

The Bush administration’s belligerent foreign policy has backed the Kremlin into a corner and forced Putin to take retaliatory measures. He has no other choice.

If we want to understand why relations between Russia are quickly reaching the boiling-point; we only need to review the main developments since the end of the Cold War. Political analyst Pat Buchanan gives a good rundown of these in his article “Doesn’t Putin Have a Point?” Buchanan says:

“Though the Red Army had picked up and gone home from Eastern Europe voluntarily, and Moscow felt it had an understanding we would not move NATO eastward, we exploited our moment. Not only did we bring Poland into NATO, we brought in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and virtually the whole Warsaw Pact, planting NATO right on Mother Russia's front porch. Now, there is a scheme afoot to bring in Ukraine and Georgia in the Caucasus, the birthplace of Stalin.

Second, America backed a pipeline to deliver Caspian Sea oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, to bypass Russia.

Third, though Putin gave us a green light to use bases in the old Soviet republics for the liberation of Afghanistan, we now seem hell-bent on making those bases in Central Asia permanent.

Fourth, though Bush sold missile defense as directed at rogue states like North Korea, we now learn we are going to put anti-missile systems into Eastern Europe. And against whom are they directed?

Fifth, through the National Endowment for Democracy, its GOP and Democratic auxiliaries, and tax-exempt think tanks, foundations, and "human rights" institutes such as Freedom House, headed by ex-CIA director James Woolsey, we have been fomenting regime change in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, and Russia herself.

U.S.-backed revolutions have succeeded in Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia, but failed in Belarus. Moscow has now legislated restrictions on the foreign agencies that it sees, not without justification, as subversive of pro-Moscow regimes.

Sixth, America conducted 78 days of bombing of Serbia for the crime of fighting to hold on to her rebellious province, Kosovo, and for refusing to grant NATO marching rights through her territory to take over that province. Mother Russia has always had a maternal interest in the Orthodox states of the Balkans.

These are Putin's grievances. Does he not have a small point?”

Yes--as Buchanan opines---Putin does have a point, which is why his press conference was suppressed. The media would rather demonize Putin, than allow him to make his case to the public. (The same is true of other world leaders who choose to use their vast resources to improve the lives of their own citizens rather that hand them over to the transnational oil giants; such as, Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez) Even so, NATO has not yet endorsed the neocon missile defense plan and, according to recent surveys, public opinion in Poland and the Czech Republic is overwhelmingly against it.

Unsurprisingly, the Bush administration is going ahead regardless of the controversy.

Putin cannot allow the United States to deploy its missile defense system to Eastern Europe. The system poses a direct threat to Russia’s national security. If Putin planned to deploy a similar system in Cuba or Mexico, the Bush administration would immediately invoke the Monroe Doctrine and threaten to remove it by force. No one doubts this. And no one should doubt that Putin is equally determined to protect his own country’s interests in the same way. We can expect that Russia will now aim its missiles at European targets and rework its foreign policy in a way that compels the US to abandon its current plans.

The media has tried to minimize the dangers of the proposed system. The Washington Post even characterized it as “a small missile defense system” which has set off “waves of paranoia about domestic and foreign opponents”.

Nonsense. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As Putin said at the press conference, “Once the missile defense system is put in place IT WILL WORK AUTOMATICALLY WITH THE ENTIRE NUCLEAR CAPABILITY OF THE UNITED STATES. It will be an integral part of the US nuclear capability.

“For the first time in history---and I want to emphasize this---there are elements of the US nuclear capability on the European continent. It simply changes the whole configuration of international security…..Of course, we have to respond to that.”

Putin is right. The “so-called” defense system is actually an expansion (and integration) of America’s existing nuclear weapons system which will now function as one unit. The dangers of this should be obvious.

The Bush administration is maneuvering in a way that will allow it to achieve what Nuclear weapons specialist, Francis A. Boyle, calls the “longstanding US policy of nuclear first-strike against Russia”.

In Boyle’s article “US Missiles in Europe: Beyond Deterrence to First Strike Threat” he states:

"By means of a US first strike about 99%+ of Russian nuclear forces would be taken out. Namely, the United States Government believes that with the deployment of a facially successful first strike capability, they can move beyond deterrence and into "compellence."… This has been analyzed ad nauseam in the professional literature. But especially by one of Harvard's premier warmongers in chief, Thomas Schelling --winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics granted by the Bank of Sweden-- who developed the term "compellence" and distinguished it from "deterrence."

…The USG is breaking out of a "deterrence" posture and moving into a "compellence" posture. (Global Research 6-6-07)

That’s right. The real goal is to force Moscow to conform to Washington’s “diktats” or face the prospect of “first-strike” annihilation. That’s why Putin has expressed growing concern over the administration’s dropping out of the ABM Treaty and the development of a new regime of low yield, bunker-busting nuclear weapons. The “hawks” who surround Bush have abandoned the “deterrence” policy of the past, and now believe that a nuclear war can be “won” by the United States. This is madness and it needs to be taken seriously.

The Bush administration sees itself as a main player in Central Asia and the Middle East---controlling vital resources and pipeline corridors throughout the region. That means Russia’s influence will have to be diminished. Boris Yeltsin was the perfect leader for the neoconservative master-plan (which is why the right-wingers Praised him when he died) Russia disintegrated under Yeltsin. He oversaw the dismantling of the state, the plundering of its resources and state-owned assets, and the restructuring of its economy according to the tenets of neoliberalism.

No wonder the neocons loved him.

Under Putin, Russia has regained its economic footing, its regional influence and its international prestige. The economy is booming, the ruble has stabilized, the standard of living has risen, and Moscow has strengthened alliances with its neighbors. This new-found Russian prosperity poses a real challenge to Bush’s plans.

Two actions in particular have changed the Russian-US relationship from tepid to openly hostile. The first was when Putin announced that Russia’s four largest oil fields would not be open to foreign development. (Russia has been consolidating its oil wealth under state-run Gazprom) And, second, when the Russian Treasury began to convert Russia’s dollar reserves into gold and rubles. Both of these are regarded as high-crimes by US corporate chieftains and western elites. Their response was swift.

John Edwards and Jack Kemp were appointed to lead a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) task force which concocted the basic pretext for an all-out assault on the Putin. This is where the idea that Putin is “rolling back democracy” began; it’s a feeble excuse for political antagonism. In their article “Russia’s Wrong Direction”, Edwards and Kemp state that a “strategic partnership” with Russia is no longer possible. They note that the government has become increasingly “authoritarian” and that the society is growing less “open and pluralistic”. Blah, blah, blah. No one in the Washington really cares about democracy. (Just look at our “good friends” in Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan) What they’re afraid of is Putin ditching the dollar and controlling his own oil. That’s what counts.

Bush also wants Putin to support sanctions against Iran and rubber stamp a Security Council resolution to separate Kosovo form Serbia. (Since when does the UN have the right to redraw national borders? Was the creation of Israel such a stunning success that the Security Council wants to try its luck again?)

Putin does not accept the “unipolar” world model. As he said in Munich, the unipolar world refers to “a world in which there is one master, one sovereign---- one centre of authority, one centre of force, one centre of decision-making. At the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.… What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilization.” He added:

“Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions have not resolved any problems. Moreover, they have caused new human tragedies and created new centers of tension. Judge for yourselves---wars as well as local and regional conflicts have not diminished. More are dying than before. Significantly more, significantly more!

Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts.

We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?

In international relations we increasingly see the desire to resolve a given question according to so-called issues of political expediency, based on the current political climate. And of course this is extremely dangerous. It results in the fact that no one feels safe. I want to emphasise this – no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race.

I am convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security.”

How can anyone dispute Putin’s analysis?

“Unilateral and illegitimate military actions”, the “uncontained hyper-use of force”, the “disdain for the basic principles of international law”, and most importantly; “No one feels safe!”

These are the irrefutable facts. Putin has simply summarized the Bush Doctrine better than anyone else. The Bush administration has increased its frontline American bases to five thousand men on Russia’s perimeter. Is this conduct of a “trustworthy ally”?

Also, NATO has deployed forces on Russia’s borders even while Putin has continued to fulfill his treaty obligations and move troops and military equipment hundreds of miles away.

As Putin said on Tuesday: “We have removed all of our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia and put them behind the Urals” and “reduced our Armed Forces by 300,000. We have taken several other steps required by the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces Treaty in Europe (ACAF). But what have we seen in response? Eastern Europe is receiving new weapons, two new military bases are being set up in Romania and in Bulgaria, and there are two new missile launch areas -- a radar in Czech republic and missile systems in Poland. And we are asking ourselves the question: what is going on? Russia is disarming unilaterally. But if we disarm unilaterally then we would like to see our partners be willing to do the same thing in Europe. On the contrary, Europe is being pumped full of new weapons systems. And of course we cannot help but be concerned.”

(This is why Putin’s comments did not appear in the western media! They would have been too damaging to the Bush administration and their expansionist plans). Who Destroyed the ABM? Putin said:

“We did not initiate the withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. But what response did we give when we discussed this issue with our American partners? We said that we do not have the resources and desire to establish such a system. But as professionals we both understand that a missile defense system for one side and no such a system for the other creates an illusion of security and increases the possibility of a nuclear conflict. The defense system WILL DESTROY THE STRATEGIC EQUILIBRIUM IN THE WORLD. In order to restore that balance without setting up a missile defense system we will have to create a system to overcome missile defense, which is what we are doing now.”

Putin: “AN ARMS RACE IS UNFOLDING. Was it we who withdrew from the ABM Treaty? We must react to what our partners do. We already told them two years ago, “don’t do this, you don’t need to do this. What are you doing? YOU ARE DESTROYING THE SYSTEM OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY. You must understand that you are forcing us to take retaliatory steps.” …we warned them. No, they did not listen to us. Then we heard about them developing low-yield nuclear weapons and they are continuing to develop these weapons.” We told them that “it would be better to look for other ways to fight terrorism than create low-yield nuclear weapons and lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons, and thereby put humankind on the brink of nuclear catastrophe. But they don’t listen to us. They are not looking for compromise. Their entire point of view can be summed-up in one sentence: ‘Whoever is not with us is against us.’”

Putin asks, “So what should we do?” The present predicament has brought us “the brink of disaster”.

Putin: “Some people have the illusion that you can do everything just as you want, regardless of the interests of other people. Of course it is for precisely this reason that the international situation gets worse and eventually results in an arms race as you pointed out. But we are not the instigators. We do not want it. Why would we want to divert resources to this? And we are not jeopardizing our relations with anyone. But we must respond.

Name even one step that we have taken or one action of ours designed to worsen the situation. There are none. We are not interested in that. We are interested in having a good atmosphere, environment and energy dialogue around Russia”.

So, what should Putin do? And how else can he meet his responsibilities to the Russian people without taking defensive “retaliatory” action to Bush’s act of war. By expanding its nuclear capability to Europe, all of Russia is in imminent danger, and so, Putin must decide “precisely which means will be used to destroy the installations that our experts believe represent a potential threat for the Russian Federation”. (Note that Putin NEVER THREATENS TO AIM HIS MISSILES AT EUROPEAN CITIES AS WAS REPORTED IN THE WESTERN MEDIA)

Putin has made great strides in improving life for the Russian people.

That is why his public approval rating is soaring at 75%. The Russian economy has been growing by 7% a year. He’s lowered the number of people living beneath the poverty-line by more than half and will bring it down to European levels by 2010. Real incomes are growing by an astonishing 12% per year. As Putin says, “Combating poverty is one of our top priorities and we still have to do a lot to improve our pension system too because the correlation between pensions and the average wage is still lower here than in Europe.”

If only that was true in America!

Russia now has the ninth largest economy in the world and has amassed enormous gold and currency reserves--the third largest in the world. It is also one of the leading players in international energy policy with a daily-oil output which now exceeds Saudi Arabia. It is also the largest producer of natural gas in the world. Russia will only get stronger as we get deeper into the century and energy resources become scarcer.

Putin strongly objects to the idea that he is not committed to human rights or is “rolling back democracy”. He points out how truncheon-wielding police in Europe routinely use tear gas, electric-shock devices and water cannons to disperse demonstrators. Is that how the West honors human rights and civil liberties?

As for the Bush administration---Putin produced a copy of Amnesty International’s yearly report condemning the United States conduct in the war on terror. “I have a copy of Amnesty International’s report here, which includes a section on the United States,” he said. “The organization has concluded that the United States IS NOW THE PRINCIPLE VIOLATOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS WORLDWIDE.”

He added, “We have a proverb in Russian, ‘Don’t blame the mirror if your face is crooked.’”

Putin is fiercely nationalistic. He has helped to restore Russia’s self-confidence and rebuild the economy. He’s demonstrated a willingness to compromise with the Bush administration on every substantive issue, but he has been repeatedly rebuffed. The last thing he wants is a nuclear standoff with the United States. But he will do what he must to defend his people from the threat of foreign attack. The deployment of the missile defense system will require that Russia develop its own new weapons systems and change its thinking about trusting the United States. Friendship is not possible in the present climate.

As for “democracy”; Putin said it best himself:

“Am I a ‘pure democrat’? (laughs) Of course I am, absolutely. The problem is that I’m all alone---the only one of my kind in the whole wide world. Just look at what’s happening in North America, it’s simply awful---torture, homeless people, Guantanamo, people detained without trial and investigation. Just look at what’s happening in Europe---harsh treatment of demonstrators, rubber bullets and tear gas used first in one capital then in another, demonstrators killed on the streets….. I have no one to talk to since Mahatma Gandhi died.”

Well said, Vladimir.

On the pic - step back and get a bigger picture - follow up on the last pic.

Overdue

2007-06-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yes - I said I would be more conscientious, but I'm inherently lazy. I feel terrible about not keeping the waylaid informed. When I left off last, I wrote about the flat spell we were going through. We usually get waves during the end of May, but this year was looking bleak. The glide can be fun, but there is nothing like racing down the line. To break it up, I took the Falsa out on some knee high days - weak south lines crawling from one hemisphere to the other, barely heaving on the shore, and gasping their last breaths. On one such splendid day, with the glide in full swing and the brotation in effect, a nasty fellow on a 12-foot Soft Top came to claim the day - conquer the weak. This fellow had burned us all with impunity and things finally came to a head. The Mayor spat a few choice words at the impostor, and the next thing I knew, the guy was taking swings at the Mayor (Flytrap) - all while they were gliding along on a shin snapper. On the outside, Mark Whitney was telling me "you got his back!" - What? Let me mention that the impostor was a very large, angry, man. Well, I did my best by jawing at the guy - Penguin, I'm not. No wit, just: "what the fuck is going on? where are you from? we're out here fiddling around and you're getting all agro! - fucking idiot!" That got the guy going, but after his initial onslaught of expletives, he said something I've never heard before - I was dumbfounded - The big angry Soft Top idiot began waggling his finger at us all and exclaimed, "I'm a better longboarder than all of you!" I looked around, and the crew just sat on their boards wide-eyed. What could you say? (We really needed Penguin at this point). We laughed hard the rest of the day - but thinking back - it may have been one of the best maneuvers I've ever witnessed.

As some of the comments from the last post indicate, La Fiesta Tiburones went down with equal measures of stoke and comblitching. The waves were done crawling, and were staggering to the shore, but there was still enough for people to unleash their competitive spirit. Only problem is some forgot the reason behind La Fiesta Tiburones. Originally, the idea was to have a "contest" as a guise to take over our surf spot on a day when the heathens usually converged to destroy our scene. Seems the Fiesta has morphed over the years, and while change is good - sometimes it's not. Ten thousand warriors guard the past, but in this case they got wiped out. I'm sure next year the brain trust will talk long and deep about recent experiences and consider the best mix of past and present.

Thankfully, the swell picked up toward the end of May, and there were some good south pulses. The waits were long, but the brotation was strong. As is typically the case during the summer, south swells tend to arrive on the weekend. So it was with the Memorial Day Weekend. Waves were fun and the crowds were massive. Swell was 2.5 feet from 195 to 200 degrees at about 17 seconds. The Steps was good - Hot Dog, DYSM, Chappy, the Enforcer, other notables, and pros were trashing anything resembling a south wall. The left at Tiburones was also fun with cameo appearances by Hunter, Mark, Charlie, guys you know, and assorted kids. While the crowds were tough, I made it unscathed until Tuesday. All the boyz who thought it was too crowded over the weekend, and waited until Tuesday, were out in force. After eying several wetsuited-asses, I finally lost the battle with my unleashed board. I straightened out and caught a rail in the jaw as I tried to clutch my board in the impact zone. Just a little pain and a depression in my board to remember the experience by. The south swell continued to dole out waves through the week, and with their bellies full, the boyz started to relax. The brotation was back in effect. The trend continued, and the south swell picked up again for another weekend of mayhem. Same as. South swell from 195, 3 feet at 14 seconds. Over the weekend, all the boyz showed. George, Esteban, the Flying Burrito, Ras Mike, Larry "the Brushman" Fuller, Terry, others you know, and many others you don't. Seemed like for the most part I ended up surfing the inside at Tiburones with Kim. The longboard crew set up a wall - a blockade - a flea comb - and what got through we groveled for. I was told the chain of surfboard-covered autos flying over the hill was unbroken. What's notable is I didn't bring any of my boards to Ralph today. It wasn't that I didn't try. Just lucky.

I've noted that our political landscape is covered with weeds. Doublespeak is the language of the day and it's hard to separate government from religion. I think religion kills more people than cancer. What does marriage via religion have to do with civil recognition of a family unit? Evolution is not a belief - it's a theory validated by several lines of evidence that educated people accept and adhere to. Creation is described in Genesis, which is in the Old Testament, which is a manuscript accepted by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim believers. Why is it only the American Christian fringe take the words literally. Lack of an education and basic understanding of metaphors? Organized religion? Why? Recent hearings regarding the Federal Justice Department were revealing. Monica "too good to be true" Goodling broke the law when she considered political and religious affiliation in hiring. Of course her only experience in hiring was while she was student body president at a Christian college founded by Pat Robertson. She hired a couple of people for some low-wage student work. Next thing - she's hiring and firing at the Justice Department. I found out that she was one of 156 students from Pat's Christian college hired by the Bush Abomination - and the school was ranked near the bottom of law schools in the country. Apparently, the Christian focus groups are using the Trojan Horse method to infiltrate and control government. To make us better - to protect us from ourselves - for freedom and the American way (land grab).

I hope you're surfing all those lefts offered by the south swells - I know you've been scoring. Early morning at Moonlight Beach. Now you know - Same as. The pic shows an epic surf spot only a few can reach.

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Stop Crying, You Haven't Missed a Thing

2007-05-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

The last week of April showed with some fun waves, but is seems Penguin took the waves when he left. Hence the title. For me, the week following Penguin's migration started with a back strain caused by splitting wood to stash for winter - sure. In fact, I was bending over picking up debris and packing it in the green bin when suddenly I felt like 80. Before the back mishap, I was getting some fun waves at Tiburones and the Steps. Waves were anywhere from waist to overhead, and the sand and wave direction made for great shape. One early afternoon, I had a great session at Privates before I was chased out by the LB crew. The follow-up at Tiburones was an epic cap to the day. Unfortunately, I missed Penguin at Tiburones. Of course, there was no way I was going to convince him to surf Privates with me - as he will testify. I waylaid him once before with a trip down the point, and he left disgusted. He promised he would never again listen to my advice regarding Privates. On that fine day during the last week of April - his loss. I'm sure while we have endured some small days, Penguin has been scoring - but Swamiis? You're in goofy foot paradise - use it before you loose it - use it, don't abuse it - when in Rome do as the Romans - Table Top, Carlsbad, Cardiff, Stone Steps, Churches, the goofy foot temple - Blacks - go left mi hijo.

There were waves over the Cinco de Mayo weekend, and the crowds were small in the afternoon. Moderate off-shore winds and a yearning for drinking provided an opportunity for some fun waves with only a few bros. Hangovers kept the crowds low the following afternoon, but the swell wained. In any case, the days were glorious with blue sky and sun - if you could stop sneezing and clear your watering eyes long enough to get a glimpse. Over the last few days the swell has been small to ND. Went on the glide this afternoon, and the biggest waves I saw were caused by Hot Dog hopping his SB. It was sick. By the way, I saw DYSM get a great barrel on Cino de Mayo. The wind held the lip, the curtain was thick, and DYSM was well placed. On the beach, I let him know I was stoked and he flipped. "I thought no one would see me". Can you imagine? that's never stopped him before - DYSM?

The presidential election propaganda has started earlier than ever this year - seems most people can't wait to get rid of the latest installment. No matter what, I still believe they are all the same thing - like yin and yang, but all bad. That said, I'm still slack-jawed at the idea that some of those eager to run our great nation don't consider evolution to be a valid theory that has been scientifically established. So far this is the only distinguishing feature I can discern between the Repugs and Demons. It was three Repugs that denied the science. Yet, one of these guys wants the ability to hold the Nuclear hand. Nuclear science is used to date artifacts, geology, and fossils, and provide multiple lines of evidence establishing evolution. But these guys don't agree. Well, SPB elected Bush - they can surely elect an idiot who flies with the grace of science, but has no wings.

The pic I included at the top shows our newest ambassador to Iraq. Apparently, as the picture shows, he was either very surprised or just had a stick poked up his ass. Where does the Admonistration find these guys?

Rasta......I decided to construct that mental quiver in my brain where I’ve got the diversity in my brain to say, “So what if it’s not six-foot and perfect, I can just go down and have a swim and I’m still gonna be a happy human. I’m still gonna be peaceful and treat people with an open heart and try to be as respectful and happy and feel the fun and joy as I would be if the surf was six-foot and perfect.”

April

2007-04-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but I've been surfing. We've had three good south swells early this year and I have tried to fill my cup. With loads of sand in at the Steps and Tiburones, the south swell waves have been fast, with hammering closeouts a'plenty. Intermixed with the south swells were northwest swells, which provided some wave face to contrast the south speed runs. Waves varied from shoulder-high to overhead and Easter break provided the masses extra surf time. It was crowded. Several of the crew took a leave of absence, formed El Grupo de El Salvador (Hot Dog, Billy, Mikey, Haut, Rick, et. al.), and went tripping. They missed some south gems at home, but according to Hot Dog, the trip was famous. Besides warm water, there were great waves, good food, and, most of all, good people. To get an idea, check the El Salvador pics posted in the gallery from when Rick went. Apparently Hot Dog has some pics posted on MySpace - check him out. Up to and during the week the boyz were gone, I took a short surf trip to the Ranch, 38th went off, and the Fox Racing?/Surf team destroyed the Hook. I got lucky and surfed the Ranch for three days with waves running from shoulder-high to double-overhead plus. The weather was great, there were no crowds, and the view was all time. I got to drive in on the beach and check Razor Blades, Drakes, Little Drakes, Rights and Lefts, San Augustine, Bulito Point, and all the reefs and beach breaks in between. It was a dream. The barrel at Little Drakes was like perfect Stockton, with four guys out. Then the swell macked and some spots were just over matched. I loaded some pics in the gallery. When I got home I went to the Hook to check the swell. It was overcast with offshores and the swell was great. I watched overhead gems at Tiburones, Steps, and 38th - all going off, and the crowd was small. I talked Rachel into going out, but I couldn't go. I was supposed to be home from my surf trip and was on a shortened leash. The next day the crowd factor went off the scale. Driving down 38th was like driving down pro central - everyone suiting up was sponsored. Then I saw why - offshore 38th sand-spitting barrels. I watched for a while and saw some outrageous rides - unf..ckinbelievable. Surfline has some video of the 38th barrelfest. Not to be outdone, the Fox Racing/Surf team (Kalani Rob et.al.) showed up with 4 video guys, ten photogs, and commenced the annihilation of the Hook. They parked in my favorite spot, but didn't get a ticket from my favorite patrolman. How's that? The south swell faded, but a northwest filled in and surf continued through the weekend. All good things come to an end - and so it was with the surf. Surfed a couple times during the week - I mean weak wind swell. Tonight I capped it with pitiful Steps - but Hot Dog told me to go out (in my mind). We've all heard Penguin threaten to leave the Point, but this time the evidence is clear - he's gone south. This girl did what others could not. Good Luck. We lost part of the police force - what has the Mayor got planned? I will try to be more diligent so that Penguin doesn't feel so far away. News from the beltway - Gone-zales - enough said.

There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor. -George Santayana, philosopher

OK

2007-03-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

Look, I know I can lag at times, and it might be a long time between posts, but what about the links? Have you surfed the links? Bayside for the fishing report, surf sites, ocean water quality, view of the coast - a site that provides info on analytical methods, weather, and various fringe news sites. Why don't you visit Aljazeer and have the Feds tag your URI. Next thing you know, you won't have to worry about reading this blog because a National Security Letter will be issued for you and the FBI will be having a Q&A session with you. I understand NSLs are being issued at the slightest whim, and it doesn't matter if the Feds are breaking the law - thank the Patriot Act. There is also a music cord site, a government documents site, and you can check the buoys. So, while I'm lagging, check out the links.

I'm finally back in the water and it's bitchen. Three days in a row - today being the smallest and most crowded - but it was wonderful to be out. Surfed La Bol Segundo and grabbed a couple at Tiburones. A couple of days ago the surf was waist to chest high, and yesterday the surf was the same with a couple of larger set waves. Of course, I didn't get any of the set waves, but Chappy did, then Hunter. How is it? Those guys paddle out and next thing you know a set wave is zeroing in on them. It's like some kind of strange triangulation. Hunter hops into his ride just as a set wave enters Monterey Bay and the wind starts to wavier. As Hunter drives down 41st, the set wave gets directed towards the Steps by Soquel Hole, and the wind starts to slack. By the time Hunter is in the lot and changing into his wetsuit, the set wave is bearing down on the Steps, and the wind is lightly brushing the wave faces. You look one way and see Hunter paddling out and you look the other way and a set wave is approaching. Before you have a chance to move, the set wave is jacking and Hunter is perfectly set up to crank down the line. The same set of circumstances happens for Chappy, Shannon, and the rest of the rippers - there's no doubt.

Well, now that our CorpGov is at a stand still and the talk runs like cheap wine at a college frat party. Guess what? - get some balls and end the whole bullshit event. Cutting funds for the war does not mean the troops have to find their own food and water and hitchhike home - I'm fuckin' sure. It means the war stops, negotiation stars, and the army leaves. Lets start fresh, stop the push to make better Nucs and start to show leadership towards peaceful cohabitation of the globe. In pure economic terms - equally increase the quality of life for all. Imagine.

Ambassador Chas Freeman Jr., ended one of his speeches recently: "All the world would still follow America, if they could find it."

Make Love, Not War

2007-02-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

Hey - Valentine's Day is coming up - are you ready? Perfect time to press for something more than a violent solution. At home, in the water, and in foreign policy. I'm still recovering from a shoulder fix, and I'm getting anxious watching the boyz have fun. I haven't seen all-time surf, but there were a few days of west-southwest swell and sun. Pros and the masses alike were making the best of the situation. This is not the best time of year for Tiburones, but the west-southwest swell looked like it was working there, and those lucky boyz who caught it - Penguin, Rasta Mike, Greg, et. al, were stoked. I heard a couple of complaints regarding the brolationship between long boarders and short boarders. The constant rotation of platforms jacks the frustration level of the SBs on the inside, and increases the likelihood that boyz will be boyz. The fact that a pack of LBs are jockeying on the outside adds to the froth, and at times, hardly anyone has fun. Hot Dog - I hear you, but don't give in. Remember the times when the brotation is at work with LBs and SBs alike. The best surf sessions are the ones where the vibe is positive - and most of the time the size and quality of the waves don't matter. Ask the Mayor about the Barking Dog, or the no-standup rule.

It's tax time, and the dollars I pay out hurt - especially when I consider what the dollars are being spent on. Heard of Blackwater? Millions of dollars lost in fraud, cheating, and scams - dollars meant for Iraqis. How about the corpordinatio's evidence regarding Iran's supposed activities in Iraq? Reminds me of the posters of the mobile chemical weapons factories featured at the UN by the Neoidiots. How can we believe these liars a second time in their build up to war with Iran? Of course, people will. The picture above is of yet another first time at the Steps. Low tide wonders never cease.

No way as a way. No limits as a limit.

In the Dark

2007-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's dark outside, but I can hear the surf picking up. Can't surf right now, but I can visualize. Right now the buoys indicate the swell is not only picking up, but the direction looks good. The swell is at 6.6 feet from 275 at 14 seconds - sounds fun on paper. Tomorrow will come and we shall see. Down to the Steps.

Remember

2007-01-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

I've been out of the water, but I've been tracking the swells and watching the rest of you. While I think some have tried to make me feel like I haven't missed anything, the swell numbers, weather, and lines I've seen during the first part of the month lead me to believe I've missed something. Swell size has ranged from 4 to 12 feet at between 12 and 17 seconds with swell directions between 290 and 315. On the steep side, swells missed the Steps unless there was size, but on the west days it looked fun. Especially that swell that arrived with the strong offshores. I'm on the sacrificial alter, but maybe it's not enough. Don't lie - I've seen you guys having fun - Hot Dog? And what about Penguin acting like Chilly Willy in SoCal, while rubbing it in at the post. Waves, sun, and most of all, warm water. Fine. I've used the down time to get my sticks ready for my return; Ralph has been cranking out the ProWork and Rich made me a new set of fins so I could change the Falsa into a twinzer. The boards are stacked against the wall and calling. I was even shocked to hear from a shaper I ordered a board from two years ago telling me the board is shaped and being glassed - we shall see. I got a couple of remembers -

Remember the bumper stickers "Stand Tall" with an American Flag background? John Wayneish. I saw one recently. The colors had faded just like SPB's attention span. The war rages on, people killed and maimed, Palestine thrashed, the Mid-East Victim wails, and Afghanistan grows a bumper crop. Meanwhile, Rosie and Donald headline the news. If we are going to leave it all behind, then let's leave it all behind. Or are there profits to be made. Corpordinatio = militaryindustrial complex.

Remember when winter came to town and the traffic disappeared with the summer migration? Seems to me as each year passes the difference between summer crowds and winter respite becomes less and less clear.

Remember the meek investigation into WMD and the lead up to the war? The problem we were told was bad intel. You can get on to Google Earth and check out your backyard, but Corpordinatio couldn't tell what was up in Iraq. Nobody on the ground, no SR-71 spying, phone taps, Predator supercomputer following net traffic, defectors, Iranians with a grudge? Instead, just bad intel. I'm puzzled that with bad intel, why not consider the possibility of a bad decision. All the money spent to gather intel, decisions made, and propaganda spewed and in the end, no one is really responsible - it was the bad intel. What makes SPB think the intel is any better? And yet they ready themselves to stuff Iran - sure that they are building a nuc - so what? We get rid of nucs instead of pursuing them and ask the rest of the world to do the same. Instead of a militaryindustrial complex, what about a peaceindustrial complex? - the peace corp at war.

Now the argument for solving the Iraq clusterfuck is to send in more troops. Dub just doesn't give a fuck about what anybody says. I've even heard it said by committee witnesses that we need to send a massive force over, mow down the violence, take control, clear the streets, military curfew -MPs. Doesn't that sound like what the last guy did? Replace one military dictator with another.

OK - one last bit of spew. The latest group of politicians suggest that they can't do much about the war because Dub is commander and thief, and the Congress doesn't want to leave the troops with no funds. Reading the Constitution, I found that this talk is disingenuous. It's clear to me that the founding fathers did not want to leave the military in the hands of executive branch to do what it pleases with. Article 1, Section 8 gives the power to Congress to raise and support Armies and to provide and maintain a Navy, and to make rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces. Seems to me that if the Congress can raise the Armies, they can disband all or a portion of the Armies by law and fund the transition. Similarly, they can regulate land and naval Forces. The Congress could write law that would decrease the Armies to a point where America would have to stop its imperial threat. Then, start over with something more sensible and less beholding to the military industrial complex. The Constitution puts a time limit on appropriations of money for Armies of two years - seems to me their vision was that a military was to be used only when absolutely necessary, and only for a limited time. They didn't want the military and executive getting all-powerful and turning on the people they defend - you know, like for our safety. I think the Congress - and that is suppose to mean you and I, has more power than Corpordinatio would like us to believe.

In many communities, the Mayor is a repository of history. So it is with our own community, and The Mayor . With the pic above he shares some of that history - Lannita es mui bonita!

No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)

Mucho Tiempo

2007-01-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

The month closes and a new year begins. Mucho tiempo closed in a small space, or so it seems. Swells kept the surf coming through most of the month For example, between 12 December and 15 December the swell ranged from 10.8 feet from 215 at 17 seconds to 15.9 feet from 285 at 14 seconds. That span of swell alone accounted for some great surf all along the point. I surfed the Steps, Tiburones, Boils-in-Between, and Privates. Shoulder-high to over-head and reasonable water temperature. I got great bottom turns, pitched over the falls, run in to, snaps off the top, floaters, I dropped in on guys, I got dropped in on, I got yelled at dropping in on guys, I got yelled at for dropping in behind guys. I pulled cutbacks, off-the-lips, screamed down the line, and got a great third bol dry barrel (DYSM approved). It was like a reflection of the whole year squeezed into a week. The swell cooled a little, but began to crank back up for Christmas hitting 25 feet from 310 at 12 seconds with strong offshores. I saw an insane wave breaking in front of the sand plant - of course no one was out. My last day of surf before an injury time out was 20 December, the day before the winter solstice. The days are only getting longer from here, and my injury getting better. I had shoulder surgery on the solstice. Short time swells continue to appear, and though I can't partake, I have watched the boyz having fun.

I'm sure you noticed one of the crew hasn't been with us lately. There have been some great beach days, but no 'cue - Where's Lance? Well, Lance is giving back. Sacrificing his way of live, he has gone down to New Orleans to help in the post-Katrina reconstruction effort. With tourism at a low and plenty of construction to be done, our own went into battle. I understand he wasted no time contributing to the cause. Checking into a room strategically located across from a T&A bar, Lance started pouring money into the economy beginning with cocktails, dinner, and dessert at the bar. I'm proud to know this American. I'm not sure what Lance is up to now, but Fly Trap has been in touch with him. I'll post as soon as I hear something.

It's comforting to know that our Beltway Leader has decided to listen to the experts. I guess God has ceased talking to him. While on the surface there has been quite a show to convince us the Beltway Leader is not only the Decider, but the Listener, I am not convinced. Yes, after years of war an investigation commission was formed, report issued, and recommendation made - but as far as I can tell, the Listener is working the shell game to distract the public from the recontamination, stretch some time, and change the name but stay the same. The way forward is like moving forward along a circle. We wait for the Listener to become the Decider and speak. With a new Congress, you'd think corporations would be riding the tide of uncertainty. The stock market infers that is not the case. Why not? I thought Demopublicans ride roughshod over the corporate world. Well, upon closer inspection one realizes the corporations don't worry because they are the government. War will continue to create profits, and then when the destruction is over, profits will be reaped in reconstruction. The marketing boys don't sleep. How about equipping the back of your eyelids with a thin LED screen the corps can use to make your life better? The screen would be input/output, and be connected via wireless to a chip injected just under your skin. The chip would also communicate with wireless hubs located through the country - fuck it, the world. Receiving constant input from the consumer, the corps will tailor an infomercial just for you, instructing you about every aspect of your life in an effort to make it better - and have you comply. The Beltway will be stoked because it will allow them to identify terrorists and other nefarious persons, and better protect its children. Sound wild? SPB will go along because, "why should you mind unless you are doing something wrong..." Corpordinatio (ordinatio is Latin for government)is here now and it's no longer hiding in the shadows.

A couple of pics included. One shows a highlight for 2006. I've been to Maui several times and never saw the top of Molokai until this year - it was worth the trip. The second shows an idea for a shirt I'm putting together - going back to go forward.

A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics". All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer. -George Orwell, writer (1903-1950)

Rushed

2006-12-06T21:10:00.000-08:00

Seems I get so rushed starting with Thanksgiving week. Usually I stick around town, hang with the folks, and grab some surf, but this year it was a trip to CaliSur for a football (soccer) tournament. Of course, I brought a board. Surfed Carlsbad, Cardiff, and Del Mar. Swell was good and got surf chest-high to overhead. A particular reef I surfed in Cardiff humbled me most of the day. Even though I saw guys getting pitched before I ventured out, I figured I could hold my own. Nope. Sure, I got some good ones, but I also got hammered. This place heaved on a boil, charged down the line a short distance, and typically ended up folding into an oncoming left. More than once I found myself on top of the boil without being able to drop in or pull out. I became one with the lip. Over the falls, reef bounce, and up for air - looking good. Later in the day I got some instruction from some savvy locals - be choosy. It helped a little, but I still realized I needed a few more sessions to get the place wired. Oh well, not enough time. I got back home - my leg was hurting, my shoulder was killing me, and I got a cold. So, I've been out of the water. Apparently, I have not missed much, but the predictors are showing swell starting tomorrow. I had fun during the week at low tide looking for fins and boning. Holy cow, does Roy have a set of eyes. He found two nice fins in as many days. I came up with some bone scraps - but the days were gorgeous. Well, with the swell predicted, the hoi polloi will be on it, but I'm sure the vespiary of local rippers will be directing the traffic. To the beltway - We have a change in power; R is out and D is in. As far as I can tell, no real difference. Maybe on the environment, but in reality, no one wants to move things to far from the current norm. Yellow Cheese, SBP, GovCorp, and money provide a strong current - the mainstream. It's as hard to bust out of as it is for me to bust air. The pic is for you dreamers getting ready to travel - following in the footsteps.

Catch Up

2006-11-14T23:35:00.000-08:00

Can I have catch-up with that Hot Dog? Surfing in warm Hawaiian waters is great, but its equally great to be in local waters with Hot Dog and the rest of the boyz. I had a great time in Maui, even though the gout hit me hard. The sweet smell, warm water, an earthquake, rain, and fun waves. But like I said - it's great to be home. I surfed hard when I got back, and shared some rough days at the Steps with Hot Dog. Wind, high tide, bump, warble - but fun. Couldn't beat the crowd, but there was a reason no one was out. Got some great evening sessions at El Bol Segundo toward the end of the swell - then it went flat. I needed the time to catch up with less important things like work and the yard. The swell tellers called for a big north-northwest, but as usual, the swell was very steep and on the small side. I heard the beaches were good - Penguin scored. For my part, I went to the Steps, fell on the rocks on my way out, manned through the pain and got a few waves, and then hobbled home to recover. I got a deep thigh bruise, and have been out of the water ever since. Recovery is slow. The Beltway has had a change of faces, but I'm not convinced it's not just a costume change. CorpGov is much more than the elected. I'll leave it at that. More troubling is the news that the world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue. The core - in losing species, we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems. We cannot even fathom how dramatic changes to the ocean will effect the world. Researchers say that depleted coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to invasive species, disease outbreaks, coastal flooding, and noxious algae blooms. Seen any noxious algae blooms lately? Of course researchers say we can change the trends if we act now. Back to CorpGov. There are ad firms spitting out propaganda that counters the researcher's message - and their clients are a blur of corporations and government - CorpGov. CorpGov's answer - capitalism. More ads, more consumption, more problems, more solutions, the bottom line, $$. That's how it is. The counter - it's up to us. Consume less, do we need fish and seafood?, second hand stuff, be informed. Aloha

Spirits

2006-10-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

Some places have spirits. The Islands are one of those places- or so it is said. The sky, the water, the earth, the creatures. At the Luau, you party with your friends, family, the community - the spirits. It was a beautiful plate of shrimp, fresh from the ocean. The evening sun set was on and I was hungry - ready to party with the spirits - consume the spirit of the ocean - the beautiful shrimp. I ate one, two, a dozen went down. But, so many more. In respect, I consumed. I went to bed with the spirits. Later that night, the spirit began to move within me, and I felt it settle in my foot. I heard it as a whisper to begin with - "getout, getout". It sounded like "get out". Then, I felt the spirit pinch me, pinch and not stop. Again, "getout, getout, getout". Finally, it got louder and I understood - GOUT. Terry, you know what I mean. My big toe was killin' me and all I could think about were those shimp and how they transferred the spirit of the Islands to my foot - bad spirit - "get out". Surfed with my bad foot the next day and had fun, ate some food, and thought "maybe tomorrow the spirit will leave me". Later that night my foot was throbbing. Today, it looks like the swell picked up, but I'm hobbling. Hope the crew is scoring some surf - something to even it out. Earthquakes, torrential rains, Gout. See ya.

Rock and Lull

2006-10-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Great surf for a week and half was finished with an exclamation point south swell; 4 feet, 17 seconds from 195. Now, some kind of fall lull has ensued. Time to heal from the summer surf and prepare for the northwest. Ralph et. al. are in Mex riding the Wall - hope they score. Drama at the Hook - I won't go into the details, but I thought it was amusing that a Westside patriot was in the lot extolling the virtues of his bro Richard and his surf school, when most of the lots' occupants are ex-students. Nice shot man. All I can say is it was a matter of time - and youth. Hey Rick - how about Thursday at high tide when the south was macking at Tiburones? Oh my gosh. Back to surf schools - tax the church! The highest taxes for use of those areas that are most used by the community. Let the money pressure the decisions of surf school owners. Latest news: the Beltway hardliners are moralists who are protecting the family while praying on its members - economically and physically. They don't act like they vote - hey? And now- no chance to go to the courts to argue a mistake was made in being marked as a terrorist - and guess what, you may be fighting for your country, your life, but if it's against the USA - you are a terrorist - per GeeDub and the layover congress. It's been shown plenty of mistakes have been, and are being made, but one must forget about those small errors when one is protecting a self-bloated country of SPB minions. It's always a new low - and I'm afraid with the impending election, Death Valley is high in comparison to what's being cooked up. I'll be reporting from the field next time - Aloha

Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.

Autumn Equinox

2006-09-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Summer is folding into fall and after a few sketchy souths, the first good northwest hit Wednesday. Sure, the souths are satisfying as the waves at Tiburones walls into the cove, but the northwest at La Bol Segunda is another wave, with its' own luster. More open walls, fast sections, and sometimes a makable barrel. I had a fun time on Wednesday, and tasted all La Bol had to offer. I kept it short, and when I got out, I was entertained by a real time surf video staring Noe and some of the other rippers. Flytrap and I saw some insane surfing. The following day the swell had dropped, but it was fun. Today, it seemed the swell was bigger and still from the northwest - steep. By the afternoon, a close wind swell had joined the ground swell to produce doubleup slop. I surfed anyway, got a few, and bailed. I heard El Nino conditions are forming in the Pacific, so maybe we will have some good surf - but be ready for a lot of rain. Rick just got back from El Salvador and from the look of some pictures he left - he scored. I included one of the pics above, and, as time allows, will post an album. Must be nice. Couple things have caught my eye as I've wandered the beltway. In Alaska, the bears and wolves have been living too well. In feeding themselves, they haven't thought to share with hunters who come to the state to spend money and land that trophy moose or caribou. So, the state decided to promote killing wolves and black bears to cut the number of predators and make trophy hunting easier. Capitalism at work. As if you needed help with this one, a scientist analyzed the statistics surrounding suicide terrorism and found that it's not really about religion or hating our freedoms. His primary finding: suicide terrorism is more about foreign occupation than Islamic fundamentalism (author - Robert Pape). Yes, this means the more we occupy, and the more we help others to occupy (Palestine), the more pissed off the folks whose land is occupied get - makes sense. QED: it follows that our war on terror is making us less safe. Finally, our Congress continues to stroke the Stupident. They debate levels of torture, its definition, and its legal standing. Not much said about the fact that information obtained using torture is just about useless. They want to use such obtained information as evidence against the tortured. And the Stupident will be left to define what torture is by having the power to interpret the Convention. They've got to be sniffing glue. Single debate point. Do you want some despot interpreting the Convention when it comes to US soldiers? - your son? Of course, none of the elite that are making this war happen and profiting from it have children in harms way, but what about the normal distribution? The US, and our reputation, continues to reach new lows. Every time I think we've reached the bottom of the barrel, the CORPGOV bails out some more sludge and reaches a deeper level of slime. Don't wait for help from the Dumbocrats, they're not putting up too much of a fight. SPB wake up, they're giving you nothing but shit.

The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself. Archibald MacLeish, poet and librarian (1892-1982)

Pay the Price

2006-09-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

It seems we continue to pay the price for the great July swells - I just want to know how much. I've tried to surf a few times, but it's been pitiful. Today I thought I could get some insiders between First and Second Peak. Took off on a couple that tabled out and got one that offered a few turns. At that point the LB crew started to take their unfair share, so I paddled down to the Steps. It was even worse - kelpy, no shape, and just plain frustrating. Is it time for a sacrifice to the gods? Well - it's clear - not much to report about in terms of surf. I saw a first run of the "Last Board" movie-short and it was pretty good. Qtip did a great job of putting together 4 hours of film into 20 minutes of board building that does not put you to sleep. Still unfinished, but coming along well. The lather spewing from the beltway boyz is putrid these days - a run up to 9/11 and the elections. It seems hopeless. I am ashamed of our country's leadership. Secret prisons off shore. Legal? Where? Safe Torture? Does that sound right? Won't give the bad boyz any motivation to get secret themselves. It's like what happened to Chuck in the "Missing in Action" series. He's in secret prisons in Nam. Gets out, goes back and gets his buddies out of the secret prisons; the suits and ties forget about him. Expendable. GDUB saw it and liked it. Tuff guys. Electro-shock. Hey VEEP, that's what we should do. Just like those crazy Viet Cong in the movie. So - Boycott 9/11 - no media hype - surf, hike, work, play music, sex, read something unreal, just don't allow yourself to be basted by the FEDCorp. See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.

Whenever morality is based on theology, whenever right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified and established. -Ludwig Feuerbach, philosopher (1804-1872)

Time of Far and Few

2006-08-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

The post weeks-of-surf syndrome had been wearing hard, but there has been some respite the last couple of days. On one of the in-between-days, when a one wave set about waist high rolled in every 30 minutes, I tried to talk the boyz into drawing straws to see who would get to ride the lone set wave. As the discussion progressed, I slipped from the group and bolted down to Tiburones in hopes of catching a wave off-guard. It took no time for the combined weight of the boyz to dampen any remaining waves. Another day, I found myself at Tiburones with one of the bros doing the brotation on ever-so-small south lines. After a while, I was by myself. It didn't take long for someone else to fill the void - but this dude I know not - apparently he knew me. Waiting at the bowl together, a wave approached, and I suggested he go - LB and all - brotation in effect. He said he was too far out and couldn't catch the wave. I thought, "dude - LB and a little elbow grease and you've got a fun nose-rider." Oh well. Another wave approached and I turned to go - without asking. I got a couple pumps down the line when my new friend dropped in on me, the wave sectioned-off, and I bailed. When my new friend got back outside, I ask if he wouldn't like to sit at the bowl and engage in the brotation that had been happening before he entered the scene. No. Blood veins popping I asked with a raised voice, "why the f--K not? Either you sit at the bowl and rotate or, if you sit on the shoulder, don't drop in!" His response just about did it - "I've seen you drop in on people." "WHAT! OF F--KING course I have - I surf you F--KING moron." Needless to say, I didn't get through to my new friend - we parted - "F--K YOU - MAGGOT" I went in shortly thereafter. As the lack of surf droned on, talk turned to the mysto internet wave forecast. Waves were scheduled to come Thursday AM - nothing. On the cliff, the talk ranged from - "I heard it was macking on the South Shore, should be here any time" to "There's a contest this weekend, so figure". Friday afternoon, Butterscotch, George, Hot Dog, myself - and others sat at Tiburones and caught a few - very few. You know, we got wet. Over the weekend, I saw Pat and Butterscotch dominating the masses and evading near miss after near miss - ten over too. So the update - The last couple of days, I got some south swell waves at La Bol Segunda with Pat, Greg, Rick, Hot Dog, Fly Trap, and all the other late summer assholes in the way. Schools just about in and fall is approaching - a shot of tonic.

Surfers measure the seasons by observation. The position of the sun, moon, and constellations. Shadows of landmarks, changes in the natural surroundings, swell direction, tides, and temperature. My house faces south with the North Star at its back. Like some kind of Stonehenge, I watch as the sun's arc moves closer and closer to a position even with the front edge of the house - fall. It's around the corner, and so is the expectation of diminished crowds, strong west swells, late souths, and long-period norths. It has been a decent summer, but it's hard not to look forward.

One look at the beltway - Apparently the FEDCORP sued one of its contractors - big contractor - for fraud. You know, billing projects that do not exist, overcharges, lying, cheating, stealing. Any way, the court found that the CORPcontractor was guilty, but had to throw the suit out of court because the CORPcontractor's contract was with the provisional government of Iraq (remember - the CORPGOV we set up - L. Paul Bremmer subleased) not the US. In the end, we are talking about our tax dollars being ripped off - sweet. These guys know how to run a shell game. Art by KB. See ya in the soup.

Panning for Gold

2006-08-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

This summer is showing up like ants to a picnic, and so are the masses - but that later. The numbers don't lie. Since around mid July, the swell has ranged from 2.8 to 3.7 feet with periods between 14 and 17 seconds. More importantly, the direction couldn't have been better. Swell directions ranged between 195 and 215. We had solid surf until August 9th, when the ocean settled into the expected summer doldrums. Pros and masses alike, along with all the caste in between, were drinking from the cup, and the cup continued to be full. One afternoon during the onslaught, I surfed head-high to overhead surf at Tiburones - full brotation with a couple of the crew. Sets poured through with 7 to 10 waves - the typical lull between south swells sets was absent. At one point I started to paddle for a wave, but looking down the line, I knew I would get blasted. I tried to pull out, and thought I successfully ejected out the back - but no. Somehow I became part of the foam ball, and got pushed inside. Next thing I know, an outside set started pushing through. I ducked the first wave only to face a headhigh wall of whitewater. The whitewater wall pushed me to the bottom, raked me across the reef, and deposited me inside the cove. The barrage continued for at least 10 waves. I was wasted after the paddle back to the lineup. Needless to say, I didn't last much longer. Surfed out, I climbed the steps - slowly. At the top were the young rippers - Matt, Ryan, Brad - even they were surfed out! C'mon kids! It was a great stretch of surf - everyone was ripping - Butterscotch, Fly Trap, Scruffy, Peter, Andy, Kirk on the Ferrari, Ray on the wave of the day, Pat, Penguin, Poncho, Graphic, Anthony up the street, Backside Anthony - can't you do anything else? Kneeboarder Roy, George on Plastic, Bert, Hot Dog, DYSM, Novak, Shane and Co., Rich, Ralph, Mary, J-girl, international pros, local pros, surf school maggots - yes, there were a lot of people out at any given time. But, I did get some brotation sessions. As Ralph put it - don't get frustrated, it's like panning for gold. You don't find nuggets every day, but once in a while. That's what keeps you panning. I rode butterscotch Jr. three times during the swell flurry and got dings two out of three. Surf school idiot pitched his board at me while I was racing down the line, and an LB dropped in on me, slowed to a crawl, and I ran up his tail. Needless to say, my frustration was boiling over - hence the cool down from Ralph. I also spent time watching the rippers at El Anzuelo. La Bol Primera was going off and so were the boyz. Saw some unbelievable surfing. It was a great distraction from the beltway antics. I guess even the UK was getting uncomfortable with our "kill them all, let God sort them out" mideast policy. They instructed the U.S. not to use domestic airfields as part of our bomb re-supply to Israel. We could only use our own air bases. At least some of our "friends" feel guilty. Ted Rall finishes his opinion titled "Kill'Em All, Let God Sort it Out" with this passage: "If we want to rule the world, we can continue to murder the citizens of other countries with the cavalier attitude of a child squashing an insect. If we want to lead the world, we should ban the use of bombs, missiles, and other barbaric tools of indiscriminate terrorism against civilian populations, and urge other nations to do the same." I agree. Non-deliberate, incidental? Nonsense. Those F**ks know what they are doing - how do they sleep?

Wait

2006-07-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

South swell waiting is in full swing, but there have been plenty of surf days this summer. Sometimes you wait for great head-high and over-head sets, sometimes you wait for knee-high sets. It's summer time. Yes, you also wait for me to get a real job and blog. You wait for the knee-high single wave sets, why not my blog? I have been busy surfing, with little time for late night narratives. The south swells have been coming in along with an occasional northwest ground swell and wind swell. South swells have averaged 2.5 feet at 14 seconds from 185 to 195. The northwest swells have average 5 feet at 8 to 14 seconds from 295 to 310. Some south swells have been generated from storms off Baja, and these swells have periods of about 12 seconds. Today, the swell picked up with some nearby south (2.7 feet at 12 seconds) and some northwest (6.7 feet at 10 seconds).

I have been surfing El Anzuelo e Tiburones - riding the pescado e pescado cuatro. Crowds have varied from bro-rotation (brotation) to weekend, who-the-f##K-are-these-guys masses. Early this week, shared the brotation with Rich, Peter, and Hot Dog until DYSM did his usual best to disrupt the groove. Of course, the first responders surf fest cleared the water as a good swell showed - man are those guys lucky - at least with surf tests at the Steps.

I spent several hours during the last two weeks filming the manufacture of a surfboard. It was a great experience, and the board, butterscotch junior, will be unveiled as soon as I can surf without the masses honing in on it. J. Mel shaped it and Ralph did the glass job and finish shaping. Next time you think a handmade board is expensive - forget the materials and look to the craftsmen - they are worth every penny. Hopefully, Goose Brown and Q-tip will help me render the four hours of filming into something I can give back to the builders. Ralph is retiring from glassing boards and will focus on repair. I highly recommend his work - I can show you the results since most of my boards have been repaired by him. While I was filming, I noticed a board in for repair that needed a lot of work - what happened butterscotch? Crew members: let me know if you need to get a hold of Ralph for a repair.

Early in today's surf session I was pitted against an LB trany that continued to roast me. I rode way too much foam, while my adversary cruised down the line. My harsh words fell on deaf ears. While I was getting stuffed at La Bol Segunda, Sharks continued to pack them in. Any notion of sliding down to Triburones was dashed when I saw the flotilla of LBs waiting for my arrival. I know Hot Dog and R-girl were ripping it - was there room for me?. Anyway, once the LB trany left, I got some fun ones. It wasn't without help. Dave, recovering from illness, was out sliding and hanging five. In between his waves, he was calling the LBs off so I could go unhindered. Thanks Dave. Hey - did you see KM on the red Ferrari Quattro? Taking corners, racing down the line - looking smooth. Alex is also frequently seen racing at the Steps - now looking faster with the close cut. And J-girl, the hatchet woman, loping open heads as she maneuvers through the matted masses.

The globe is being torn open and so am I. Have we not progressed past killing each other. Even the most primitive beasts know how to maintain a society without killing for advantage. My thoughts on the Israeli - it's A.O.K with the U.S. - Hezbros war are nothing without a foundation for the rest. So, my first endeavor is to show a different point of view from that blasted on FOX and the rest of the news-lemmings. Please read this interview and article for starters. Other toads include the doublespeak out of Israel. Regarding the killing of locals who just happen to live in the neighborhood - actions were "incidental and non-deliberate." That's right, just an accident the bombs fell on the building next door and the resulting pile of rubble landed on family next door killing them all - and it wasn't deliberate - they thought the rubble was going to stay put. Our Congress is on acid. Voting on nothing, giving the O.K. for continued "incidental and non-deliberate" killing, and just doing stupid things. In a committee regarding global warming, the typical Repugnant mantra - "how can we make policy decisions on global warming when the research is still uncertain?" It's not clear who is still uncertain, but what happened to this doubt regarding research when they all voted, after little debate, on going to war with Iraq? One policy decision leading to death and destruction, the other leading to reducing use of fossil fuels and emissions. If we're going to make a decision on too little or uncertain information, I'll go with global warming. Speaking of studies, as many as 1.5 million people get sick from bacterial pollution on Southern California Beaches each year. Great - let's get some more people in Santa Cruz. Finally - people in Great Britain view the U.S as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraqi policy is failing. That same president said, "what you're watching is American policy" when commenting on the situation in Lebanon. Oh my Gosh.

Fireworks

2006-07-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

This week the fireworks went off as we celebrated the Fourth, but I understand the real fireworks came a few days earlier. The wire has it that Ranger Roy went off like a Roman Candle. Now, I'm not talking about the 2006 version of a Roman Candle - restrained, low-key, safe - I'm talking about a down your throat, in your face, 15-footer. Equally news worthy was the anger management response offered up by Penguin. Apparently, the Crew were on a mediocre day at Tiburones having fun and dealing with a young lad from the ranks of the Masses - maybe even a lower caste Kook. This guy was fumbling around right in that part of the wave where you need to be balls-out down the line or getting in position to fly. Gentle, mild-mannered Ranger Roy stopped by to educate this fellow on the finer points of surfing Tiburones with the Crew. The guy got in the Ranger's face and said "F**K YOU". No one says that to a ranger - or Zidane. Instead of a head butt, Ranger Roy went off. Can you see it? I didn't and I'm disappointed. Veins in his neck throbbing, Roy let the Kook have it. Caste warfare. When you thought it couldn't get better, Penguin came over to help Roy cool and save the caste system. Penguin talks Roy down from 30,000 feet. Fireworks. Well, in the end Roy and the young member of the Masses caste (or possibly Kook caste) patched things up. Fireworks don't push the conversation forward, but they are great to look at. Speaking of fireworks, the surf hasn't been exploding. Today was the first time I've surfed in a while - knee high La Bol Segunda with la pescado. I heard rumors of south all week - or maybe that's "weak". We shall see. In any event, I did not not see Hot Dog, Ranger Roy, Penguin, or Fly Trap - did they not know it was pumping? I did see Butterscotch - ripping. Today's thought - CorpGov - the way it is. From immigration, healthcare, education, war, resource ownership - no more commons. Our most intimate information is for sale, genetic engineered patented life - water for sale. We are the largest supplier of small arms ammunition at $140 million per year with the Swiss taking second at $40 million. Our CorpGov is making bank while we supply war. I'm sure you know some of the other CorpGovs that are making it big on war. Invest in war - great returns - just don't watch what your money does. Worried about your weed money going to terrorists? - at least that's what the CorpGov wants you to be worried about. Don't worry about what your investment/tax dollars are up to. It's weed money that's buying US ammo. Yea - that's it - when you buy weed you invest in America. Just don't think about it. Daydream Shorebreak. The Italian Don King sidewalk surfing.

The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. -Lord Acton, historian (1834-1902)

So Far, So Good

2006-06-28T23:37:00.000-07:00

OK - I'm lagging, but for good reason. The summer surf has been relatively good, so far. I have managed to surf waist to head high waves on consecutive days - consecutive weeks. Sharks, Second Bowl - even - gasp - Second Peak. Surf sessions have included all the accoutrements - surf schools, kooks, butt jacking, wave jacking, and just plain jacking. Pros, standouts, the crew, the boyz, the masses, the idiots - the maggots. I'm pretty sure we all had fun. Swell size has ranged between 1.5 and 4 feet from 180 to 200 with a period of about 14 seconds. The southern hemisphere has been on fire. Check the RipCurl "somewhere in Mexico" contest clips - unfucking real. The last four evenings have provided fun surf at Tiburones and the Steps, and its been great to see the crew out after work and getting the real payoff. KB stayed with me and raced in the Jay Memorial Paddle. I guess he had fun, but I think the surf sessions we had provided more stoke. DYSM was challenged by the rotation, but I think some meditation and a helping of Hot Dog soothed his hype. Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, but our bros usually know how to reset the balance. Thanks. Rant: What can I say. The hurricane is all around us - too much. I'm just frustrated with what's going on with my contribution - the money I throw into the pot. What about you? Would you pay for half of this shit if you had a say? Drug war - in Afghanistan? War on Terror - terror is a method - not a country, not a people. Immigration or nuclear weapons? Corporate tax breaks and incentives - what is our return? Without the tonic of surf, family, and friends, frustration would turn black. Watched a doc on Tibet and was saddened that land grab continues to ruin those closest to the earth and culture of their land. There was, and is, a great awareness and sensitivity to the plight of Jews - virtually nothing on the eradication of Tibetians, their culture, religion, and land. Right now. I do not believe history teaches. We cherry-pick what works for us, continue to be self-interested, self-engaged, and let myths fill in the cracks. I'd like to see my tax dollars work at home - not for contractors and corporations that are self-interested and self-engaged, but for humanity - people. Same with dollars spent around the world - replace drug eradication with education. Butter - not guns. Pic: more SciFi surf from the island continent.

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. -Salvador Dali, painter (1904-1989)

Easy

2006-06-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

I am easing into summer, catching some fun days at the Steps and Tiburones. Days have been split between SB windows and LB glides. Swell has been mostly from the steep south, but there were a couple of northwest ground/wind swell days. It seems the cycle of weekend south swells is again the norm. With the great weather and south showing on Saturday last, I resorted to the LB glide at Terry's Bowl in order to stay grooved. It was packed at the Bowl - I wanted to SB, but the fun factor balanced with the mass factor steered me to the LB. Even though I was fixing on the SB session, I had a great time. Ralph and his wife were out scoring Terry's with me and it made it a fun time. I even got to try a Morey Swizzle - wild. Sunday, I couldn't stand it and charged with the SB in the late afternoon. Always fun. During the week, it was glide with some intermittent SB sessions. The Flytrap has been great, along with the rest of the crew, in making Gio's beach summer memorable. Thanks guys. This Saturday, a couple of the boyz caught me groveling on the SB at the Steps - Penguin made sure I knew he was watching - Hey, what can I say? - I love to surf. It's those days when I'm groveling in knee high wind-blown surf that reminds me of being a grom. It didn't matter too much how the surf was. Fact was, you were being pushed along by an ocean wave, the wind was clean, saltwater, sand, sun, scarfing wildly, and an afterglow before passing out. It's still the same. The beltway bobbleheads continue to spew, and this line from the bobblehead with the biggest wobble was typical. On the subject of immigrants, W commented, "..they must learn the values and history of America". Of course many in our USA walk to their own beat and know nothing of history, but that said, let's look deeper. What are "American Values"? Are these the values exemplified by the current government? Mislead, lie, steal, civilian killing or "wrong place and wrong time", revenge, land grab, war, preemptive war, fear, spying, constitutional ignorance and manipulation, corporate dominance over mankind and nature, bad religion, bigotry, homophobia, with me or against me, poor getting poorer, dumb getting dumber, control, spin, money, more money. The list is long, but most folks I know are simple with love in their hearts - a universal value. I'm not sure about American Values - but I know what my parents taught me; the same thing I teach my children, and the same thing that folks in most parts of the world believe in - regardless of religion. I'm sure most immigrants have impeccable values. American History? You can't believe everything you read or hear - especially with American History - or myth in many cases. For those entering the country - pass the test. Then, start learning - that's what is great about USA. If you work at it, you can learn something close to the truth, and fill in the blanks on you own. No blanks regarding the picture - KB sent it in from a friend in eastern OZ. I'm thinking about a surf caste system - here are the stratified levels of society: international pros, pros, standouts, the boyz, the crew, the masses, kooks, idiots, and - lest we forget - maggots. Where do you fall? Anybody heard anything about caveporn.com yet? I need a fix - where are those pics? Oh yea - did you hear the Congress is thinking of raising the minimum wage? they haven't done so for a decade - but they aren't thinking of raising their wages - they did raise their wages for the 7th time in the last decade.

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen, musician (1934- )

Lazy Days

2006-06-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Yes - it has been awhile since my last entry. Just chalk it up to lazy days. I continued to strive for an 06 record of surf days in a row, and found rides every day between the 20th and 25th. Mostly at Tiburones with fun south early in the week, turning to wind swell mix at Second Bowl. Average waist to chest high with some head high and over head sets. Some memorable days with the boyz - The A-list remained stocked with the usual suspects, and graig - thanks for letting me cup your ass - I've got strong feelings sometimes. The Surf-a-whatever at Tiburones went off Monday, and I saw some great team surfing, ate good food, watched the paddle race, and witnessed a lot of groove. I was bummed to see that the paddle race was modified by removing the beer guzzling pitstops - the point is to get buzzed - not win a paddle race. Anyway - I guess it ended as it should - glasses filled many times. Good job to those who supported this year's effort, and take time to remember how it started. Surfed small waves most of this week - seems summer is really kicking in. Did the LB glide and rode the twin at knee high. The weather has been fine and today was no exception. Great beach day, the boyz having fun, and we even got to see a photo-shoot. The waves were real small - I took the SB out and I only stood-up once. No worries - still had a beautiful day. Of course, I went for a swim to get some real exercise. Hey - www.caveporn.com hasn't posted yet - so keep on checking. Within days we should see a new web site with Sharks Cave as the setting for some terrific shots of some beach beauties scantily clad. Flytrap tried to get into the action, but I think the girls were intimidated - thought they might get entangled in the velcro. All right. After the FBI broke into another scummy senator's office to get the goods on him, the congress finally woke up and got pissed. The executive is pissing all over us, they cried. Gee, since when. The repub leader, Fristing himself, says, "I think there's allegations of criminal activity, and the American people need to have the law enforced." Are you kidding - NSA program and Bush lying about it, signing statements that excuse the executive from the law, torture, kidnapping, holding people without process, leaks, intimidation, propaganda - the list goes on and on. How can anyone take these guys seriously, except when they're talking about nuking people. Check it out. The latest is that phone companies are giving info to Big Brother. But, BB and the corps are denying it - here's the twist. Contracting. Just like in the war zones, contractors are hired to do the middleman work. Good for corporations, maintains small government and big business, and keeps party donations coming. In the case of data - your information - probably more than you think - private firms are the cattlemen, rounding up the data - yea - cowboys - databoys. The data is then sold for a tidy profit to BB. BB can claim they didn't collect it, and the corps can claim they didn't give it to BB. The corps sell it to the corps who sell it to BB. The main player - check out ChoicePoint. It's all sold out. Stay connected with the small things, simple things - your family, friends, surf - everything else is sold out - we are as transparent as we wish our government was. Same for many around the globe. We may be trapped behind a wall, but we have our dreams.

I fear nothing, I hope for nothing, I am free. -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957)

Picture of God

2006-05-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Since Mother's Day, and with the exception of Monday, the south swell has kept the Eastside in surf. My gosh, have I had fun. Swell size has ranged between 2 and 3.6 feet, the swell direction has ranged between 180 and 200, and the period has averaged 14 seconds. It must really be raging in the southern hemisphere. It's been a great start to the south season. I've had most of my fun at Tiburones, but stops at Second Bowl have been sick. All the boyz have been scoring. I heard one of the less traveled learned an important lesson at the bottom of the Steps. What I wonder is how it took him so long to be educated. I'm sure he see things differently now. Of course this run of south swell hasn't been without incident. The "I see your ass to often" list (ass list or A-list) includes many notables, but as long as there's another set, it can wait. I've sounded off regarding the 50-rule, but it seems some of the near-60s riding their planks are stiff in the neck, hard of hearing, and have bad eye sight. There's a few of you on the A-list, but I don't mind - yet. Yes, I've done my share of showing my ass to others, but at least I'm not sporting a G-string anymore. A friend showed me a picture of God. The folks that gave it to him were serious, and I respect that. It got me thinking about other pictures of God I've seen. In fact, they're all around if you take the time to look. Moms with their children, my wife, the clouds this evening, surf sessions, the shattering noise and force of a top to bottom grind as you paddle out, flowers, beautiful women, good times, bad times, people talking out against the war, injustice, and poverty, that passage in your book that left you thinking. I'm sure these are all pictures of God - the list goes on. That guy giving you the "I'm burning you no matter what you say" look - maybe not. Yin and Yang baby. Paul - did you weed today? I missed you out in the lineup. Dane's got a new old car thanks to his brother - there's a picture. Butterscotch? Penguin's got a new board in the rafter - red is lead, blue is true. Apparently Arlen gave up on trying to protect us from ourselves. The public doesn't mind being spied on. The poles say so, and Arlan's constituents did not support his effort to reinstate the constitution and end the slide toward executive dictatorship. The media and general public did not foam at the mouth - spy on us - it's ok - we trust you. We are turning into a nation of beltway bobbleheads. Stay independent - live on the edge - tear down the wall, no frontiers, no borders, Surf

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. -Edward R. Murrow, journalist (1908-1965)

Saturated South

2006-05-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

We went from the winter lull, past the spring wind swells, and had the first significant south of the season over the weekend. Got Tiburones Friday, Saturday, and Sunday chest-high to over-head with great conditions. Saturday was real fun with a mid-morning to afternoon session followed by a great evening session. Surfed until dark. The buoys showed the swell maxing at 3.8 feet from 190 at 17 seconds. Wrapped the swell up on Monday at Second Bowl with some fun left-overs. Had to thrash Paul throughout the swell because he was supposed to be at work pulling weeds. I really feel sorry for his poor, hard working, wife. What a woman. I see her pulling the weeds - but where is Paul? Loafing at the beach. The Butterscotch was fouled while hanging on the racks - no water in sight. Embarrassed that it was damaged outside of the wave arena, its' depressed owner went to the best smythe in town. Repaired, the crewsader was back in action during the south. Check your racks! Hey - did you see the bloated sea lion carcass floating out in the kelp beds during the swell? Well, I went gliding this afternoon on the LB and saw the bloated form moving toward the beach in the cove. When it hits the beach and explodes - wow! It got me thinking. That bloated carcass is just like the Bush administration and the step-in-line congress. Continuing to contrive - continuing to bloat. But at some point, the high tide is going to hurl it on the beach and its going to explode. And just like the bloated carcass in Sharks Cove, its going to let out a stench when it blows. All the stink the White Wash has been accumulating will blow. It will smell for months. I can almost smell it now.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. -Jimi Hendrix, musician, singer, and songwriter (1942-1970)

No Surf - but Music

2006-05-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

At the address below, hear Neil Young's new music focused on the war. It's great music, and means something now. Also, although Repubs are pretty low on my list right now - check out Arlen Spector (R-Pennsylvania). Google his trip with respect to NSA spying and executive branch over reach. He's pissed off at Congress for doing nothing regarding the NSA scene and he's pissed at us for not lathering more about being spied on. This man talks Constitution - but is diplomatic. Please get lathered - just like it was a surf school pissing on us or that idiot saying sorry. Neil is going off - check it out. Meanwhile, a small south is running, but is currently overrun by a steep north swell from 310. If the north weakens and the south holds, there may be some small peelers. Later

http://www.hyfntrak.com/neilyoung2/AFF23130/

Friday Funzone at Tiburones

2006-04-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

It got so bad, I thought every intersection was just another chance for someone to drop in on me. He who hesitates is lost, and I was lost. I'll just let that SUV go first. I mean, after Dempsy torched me I felt defeated - humbled. With my tail between my legs - I went home to lick my wounds and regroup. Penguin, Dempsy, some fuckin' longboarder - it just doesn't matter. Whining down the long road - it's the journey, not the inn.

Kindness is not without its rocks ahead. People are apt to put it down to an easy temper and seldom recognize it as the secret striving of a generous nature; whilst, on the other hand, the ill-natured get credit for all the evil they refrain from. -Honore De Balzac, novelist (1799-1850)

Started LB and Quickly Turned SB

2006-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Checked the waves in the morning and it looked real small. Figured once the tide dropped a little, some LB glides would be available. So - later I paddled out to Second Bowl on the green plank, but noticed the waves were starting to pick up. First wave to the nose, leaned into the wave face and slipped. The plank rode to the beach and I went in searching for a wax fix. Got the wax, paddled back out, and hooked into some more waves. The waves kept breaking a little farther out, and they were more than I wanted for the LB. After three or four waves I made a command decision and got my SB. Good move. Surfed fun second bowl. Not big, but lined up. Word was Tiburones was good too - Rick, Paul, Penguin, and Terry were on it. Paul came up to Second Bowl to inform me of the pleasures down the line, but I figured he was just trying to spook me. I ended my session at Tiburones and he was right. As I was leaving, Terry, Rick, and I watched some hooded demon collide with Kneeboarder Roy. Late news indicates Roy's board was damaged. The same demon almost killed me as I tried to race down the line and make a section. Terry's got a real nice new board he tried today - he looked like he was hooked in and I must say the board is beautiful. Roy, I only hope the guy didn't say sorry, but instead handed over the cash. Rant: gasoline prices are high and it's the environmentalists fault. They won't let drilling in ANWR go on and they keep the oil companies from building new refineries and upgrading old refineries. I'll start with the oil companies. What ever the cost, it's passed on to us. So, if new refineries or upgrades cost, we would be paying - that's not stopping them. Environmental compliance is all about cost, and remember we pay. Instead, it's likely the oil companies don't build new refineries or upgrade because they are motivated by supply and demand consequences. Why build more refineries when that will only increase supply and drive down the price of gasoline at a fixed demand. Bottle-neck the supply of gasoline and the price will go up; meanwhile, the oil corps and their political allies can blame the environmentalists. Next-up ANWR. Drilling there will do nothing but cost an environment we can't replace. Dominion is a joke. Here's what some of the thinkers say:

On Drilling in ANWR
The argument that this is just going to affect 2,000 acres -- I am sorry -- having flown over this area, having seen what happens, I know and the Department of Interior knows it isn't just about the pad where you drill. It is about roads and airstrips and pipelines and water and gravel sources and base camps and construction camps, storage pads, power lines, power plants, support facilities, coastal marine facilities -- it is a huge undertaking. You may see that postage stamp[-sized plot] of drilling [on a map presented by Domenici], but there is a lot more in support of it that is going to have an impact on this environment. Senator Durbin responding to Repub notion that only a small footprint would be impacted in ANWR

Furthermore, the oil industry estimates no oil would be flowing from the refuge for at least a decade and full production would not be reached for 20 years. Even then, crude oil from the refuge would make up only 0.8 percent of world production, which is meaningless at current rates of consumption. Oil prices are set on the world market. The tiny estimated production from the Arctic refuge would have little or no impact on prices, according to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy... "The United States invented the national park. Have we so lost our way a century later that we are prepared to sacrifice a one-of-a-kind wilderness for a shot at a small and temporary supply of oil? Similarly, are we so desperate for a fast buck that the other natural treasures in Alaska are for sale to the highest bidder?"

Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any; nor can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

New Low

2006-04-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of new lows happening every day. For example, the surf is as pinner as I have seen it all year. No surf. No report of surf. Even Chuck couldn't scare a swell up by the way things looked today. I did get surf up until Saturday; three LB glide days at Sharks and the Hook followed by a couple of SB days at Second Bowl. Lance provided a great BBQ on Friday at the Rock, Dane totaled his car - Dane love your mother, and I started educating Paul about the 50-rule. The Mayor lent me some DVDs of the protest shows filmed by G.Brown & Q-Tip - I saw the first one and it was great, but for some reason the second one is not for me to see. More on the Baghdad Palace. Twenty-one buildings on 104 acres of riverside parkland. Iraq's interim government - essentially a US puppet group - transferred the land to US ownership in Oct 2004 under an agreement whose terms were not disclosed - sorry Iraqi public - US land grab rules. Cost estimates soaring over $1 billion. Of course, five american companies involved with construction. New Orleans - fuck it. The palace has its own water wells, electricity plant, and wastewater treatment plant - more than most Iraqi towns. Five high-security entrances and an emergency entrance-exit (cave to airport?). They will need it when the Iraqi public riot. They call it an embassy, but an embassy is the official residence or offices of an ambassador in a foreign country. Right now, there is no government in Iraq. If it is a country - it's because it's bordered by other countries and use to be a country - kinda like nothing is something by virtue of everything else around it. OK - check out the "Interfaith Stewardship Alliance". These folks are on a different planet. Their mantra - Dominion. Stewardship. Conservation. Notice the first pillar - Dominion - yes, dominion over nature - folks know best. Really? How many examples are you aware of where human beings knew better than nature? In fact, if as the interfaith folks believe, nature was created by GOD and GOD is nature, then doesn't Dominion put these folks on an equal footing with the Almighty? In my experience, our dominion over nature has been a complete failure - have we not learned? Here are some of their thoughts (by the way, these people do not subscribe to global warming):
"many people mistakenly view humans as principally consumers and polluters rather than producers and stewards" Seen clear cutting lately? How about LA on a clear day? Humans work "to improve the condition of all living things" Why was salmon season curtailed? What happened to sardines? Why was DDT banned? Where is the Grizzly Bear shown on the California flag? Does nature know best? - these folks don't think so - humanity alone "can unlock the potential for all the inhabitants on earth" at least those with enough resources who beleive as they do and are human. These folks are anti-earth day wrapped in green. Dude, seriously. These people are on acid - I'm sure the earth was doing fine without humans. Sustainable is not equal to domination. Domination is equal to corporations and genetic engineering. Corn seed for a price. Who are these fuckers? Find out and beware.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)