Fear & Loving in Disneyland

Last Friday, my son and I journeyed to Disneyland to watch his sister's 5th grade class receive a big award (for their project to create habitat for endangered burrowing owls, to learn more about it go to their save the burrowing owls website) with lots of hullabaloo. For me, the wildest ride of the day was the Big Corporate Rollercoaster of Love ride--my own strange conflicted relationship with Disney.

In the days before the trip, the ride began:


Down the rollercoaster dipped as I saw the "Environmentality" hats they handed to each of the 30 some kids--shaped and colored exactly like army hats, creating an army of Disney aficionados.

Up I flew as the kids ran to embrace a live Jiminy Cricket who came to their school in Sacramento to give the award--the kids were so thrilled and honored!

Once inside the park, down I rushed as several Bush administration officials shared the stage with the 10 and 11 year olds--"how dare they posture as pro-environment!" I even went so far as to ineffectively heckle this fish and game guy who said "it is with great pleasure that we will turn stewardship of the environment over to [a new generation]...," while I suggested "the Democrats" loud enough to annoy my son and a couple of proud fellow parents.

My ride climaxed as two obviously professional actors (Gladys and Dwight) dressed as owls "interrupted" the ceremony and proceeded to sing a hilarious and perfect medley of bird songs backed up by the girl group with chick yellow feathered hair, "the Peeps" (get it? Gladys, Dwight and the Peeps?). Tears actually came to my eyes at Disney going to the trouble of creating this whole production just for these children (putting aside the thought of Shakespearean actors being paid to dress up as owls).

Down down down I came as I looked at the PR hacks in the back handing out paper to the cameras and reporters, desperately using our children to create a "pro-environment" image even as they had given each kid Jiminy Cricket lunch boxes almost certainly made by 13 year old girls in China and laden with lead (according to recent reports).

But up I came for the final enjoyment of the ride as their (liberal) teacher Mitch Carnie, right in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, asked the crowd to remember John Lennon's lyrics and "imagine" what it would be like if every child in California did a project like this that genuinely improved the environment before they graduated 6th grade.

And from there, I kept enjoying it as my son and I continued on real rides, seeing the improvements to Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, and other face lifts to the park--we love Disney's California Adventure. And having a fabulous meal with friends at the Blue Bayou restaurant (the New Orleans-style "outdoor at night" atmosphere that the Pirates of the Caribbean ride takes you right by), something I've always wanted to do.

So in the final analysis, even though I mistrust the Disney corporation, I love Disneyland, Disney movies and Disney production values--my recommendation, just enjoy the ride.

Big money developers win as County Supervisors prepare backroom deal to stop

Housing activists are protesting a meeting of the Sacramento County Supervisors this morning to try to blow up this deal.

After adopting an award winning program to ensure affordable housing for lower income Sacramento families in 2004, lobbyists for big money developers sued the County. Despite a judge’s ruling that the developer suit is without merit, County Supervisors have agreed to settle the suit and concede affordable homes to developer interests.

“This program is not broken, why is the County trying to fix it in a backroom deal? Why are they going back on their compact with us?” asks Mike Camino, lower income resident.

“By making this backroom deal, affordable homes are taken away from working families to put money in the pocket of big developers.” Ethan Evans, Sacramento Housing Alliance.

Thinking Like Doolittle

Yikes, I'm thinking like John Doolittle. Today's Sacramento Bee reports (Republican congressman) Doolittle believes that the FBI raid on his house last month was timed to bolster Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Bee is so appropriately anti-Doolittle that they make the claim sound paranoid and desperate.

But Doolittle has got to be right. When it went down, I thought the same thing. The timing was just too cute. On the very day that Gonzales is scheduled to be raked over the Judiciary Committee coals for politically motivated actions of the Justice Department, the FBI just happens to raid a high profile Republican Congressman's house in California early enough in the morning and with enough press coordination to make the morning papers in the east?

C'mon, it has Karl Rove written all over it--desperate play at distraction. Of course it didn't work, Gonzales still got reamed and people noticed it. And of course Doolittle's attempt to change the subject is equally desperate. It seems clear in recent weeks that his reign of terror is coming to an end.

I picture Rove the week of the Gonzales testimony pulling from a hat he carries around with him the names of people he's willing to take down to save the President. That week, it came up Doolittle. And they say Democrats eat their young...

James Saxon on the Suspense behind Clean Money

I participated by listening to the live stream of the Appropriations Committee over the internet. It's like before horror films there was radio! It was full of all the same "suspense" but with baited breath, you get to imagine all the scenes without seeing the smiles, winks, nods, and of course the lobbyists pouring in money (but even with strong disclosure laws, few ever really see that.).

I wish I could have been there nonetheless to voice my support for AB 583 to save the world from the unfair influence of money in our democratic system! It's our government's own "global warming".

So it was very heartening to learn the weight that Mr. Leno has to wield in bringing this bill out of suspense.

The chairperson was clearly very positive and excited about AB 583. And seemed to suggest that it would be continuing to have a life (I guess as far as he can help). So I'm betting we'll be seeing more of AB 583, Clean Money, Fairer Elections, Full Public Financing of Elections really soon. It's time has come for sure.

Hopefully along with Nunez, Leno, and Hancock, maybe Governor Schwarzenegger can also join in, giving the bill the momentum it needs to get to his desk and into law!

James Saxon on the Suspense behind Clean Money

I participated by listening to the live stream of the Appropriations Committee over the internet. It's like before horror films there was radio! It was full of all the same "suspense" but with baited breath, you get to imagine all the scenes without seeing the smiles, winks, nods, and of course the lobbyists pouring in money (but even with strong disclosure laws, few ever really see that.).

I wish I could have been there nonetheless to voice my support for AB 583 to save the world from the unfair influence of money in our democratic system! It's our government's own "global warming".

So it was very heartening to learn the weight that Mr. Leno has to wield in bringing this bill out of suspense.

The chairperson was clearly very positive and excited about AB 583. And seemed to suggest that it would be continuing to have a life (I guess as far as he can help). So I'm betting we'll be seeing more of AB 583, Clean Money, Fairer Elections, Full Public Financing of Elections really soon. It's time has come for sure.

Hopefully along with Nunez, Leno, and Hancock, maybe Governor Schwarzenegger can also join in, giving the bill the momentum it needs to get to his desk and into law!

Clean Elections: the suspense is killing me

If the California Appropriations Committees were a summer movie, it’d be a blockbuster. After all, they’ve got all the right ingredients: suspense, mass murders, graveyards. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never liked horror films—I can’t stand the suspense.

Today the California Assembly Appropriations Committee moved AB 583, the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act by Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) to the “suspense file,” leading me to wonder whether, once again, the suspense will kill me before we have public financing of elections in California. What rule, concept or decorum is actually “suspended,” I’ve long since forgotten. What I do know is that the suspense is not whether a bill will go “to suspense,” the suspense is whether it comes off.

And off it should come. As Susan Lerner, Executive Director of the California Clean Money Campaign, the sponsor of AB 583, said today, “the issue is no longer how can we afford to pay for it, but how can we afford not to pay for it?” Indeed, it is long overdue to inject clean public financing into California elections. However, this bill, coming as it does on the heels of (losing) Proposition 89 on last year’s ballot, faces a tough challenge in the legislature, even though it contains only parts of that initiative.

Sacramento insiders know that virtually every bill worth passing (i.e., every bill with a price tag) moves to “suspense” in Appropriations. The legitimate rationale used to be that bills that would cost the taxpayers over a certain amount of money per year would all be considered together. This process would ensure that California could afford the legislation it passed.

I have no quarrel with the theory behind considering these bills in tandem. I do take issue with the extreme secrecy with which these decisions are made. I’ve never understood why the handling of the suspense calendar isn’t a violation of the Brown Act (California open meeting law).

What it boils down to is that a handful of legislators can prevent the most important legislation in the state from moving forward without explaining their reasons or having to vote in public.

Here’s how it works: all the Assemblymembers and Senators who have their bills “on suspense” in the Appropriations Committee are forced to submit a secret (closely guarded) ranking of all their bills in order of priority.

It’s the Sophie’s Choice of legislators—“if only (sob) one of my (sob) bills gets to (sob) live, I guess it will have to be (sob) this one.” This ranking is then reviewed by a small cadre consisting of (if memory serves) the Appropriations Chair, the leader of the house, in private consultation with other members of the Appropriations committee, who decide which bills will come “off suspense” and therefore be granted an actual vote in committee.

Every year these “graveyard” committees bury scores of important (and less important) bills by having them never come off “suspense.”

Last year’s version of AB 583 came off suspense in a new form: without operative language and passed “in concept” off the Assembly floor and into the Senate where it fizzled out in the Senate Elections Committee despite the strong support of then chair now Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

The bill today was supported by over 20 activists and spoken well of by several legislators, including Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) who asked to be added as a co-author.

The Chair of the Assembly Elections Committee Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) also spoke highly of the bill, having been a leading co-author for years. He hailed author Loni Hancock as more than an author, as the leader of a movement.

Despite my misgivings about the process, if the fate of this bill has to be decided in secret, I’m thrilled it’s in the hands of the capable and trustworthy Mark Leno, in consultation with Speaker Fabian Nunez, who has also been a strong supporter in the past.

Nunez, Leno and Hancock have the power to give this movie a happy ending if they put their heads together behind the scenes and bring to the screen a real version of this bill, with enforcement provisions and the necessary funding source off “suspense” for the vote the public deserves. When will California have real campaign reform? The suspense is killing us.

Mersmann on Kucinich

Sara,

I think it's time to vote your heart and soul and principles and come
back to Dennis. Kucinich has boldly introduced legislation calling
for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney and he is the only candidate
who has consistently voted against the Iraq war. Furthermore he is in
favor of single payer national health care. Sure he may look like a
geek, but he is the best the Dems have to offer. A long shot, sure;
but YOU, of all people, should know how powerful belief and intention
are in the world.

Look at his ten key issues:

Universal Health Care
International Cooperation: US out of Iraq, UN in
Jobs and Withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO
Repeal of the "Patriot Act"
Guaranteed Quality Education, Pre-K Through College
Full Social Security Benefits at Age 65
Right-to-Choose, Privacy and Civil Rights
Balance Between Workers and Corporations
Environmental Renewal and Clean Energy
Restored Rural Communities and Family Farms

See anything you don't like? See any other Dem who comes close?


Kucinich 2008 In Your Heart You Know He's Right.



Be Well,

Harry

Harry J. Mersmann, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology

More on Edwards

In the self-referential world of blogging, I feel the need to link above to the California Progress Report, which has put my post here from yesterday up as their post for today--so this week I'm one day ahead of the best blog on California politics ;)

More importantly, everyone who has responded to my post yesterday has said that they're for Edwards too. Of course, this is probably self-selecting. My Obama-supporting friends may just be lying low--still, this is their chance to make their pitch to me. No one so far, in my limited circles, has made the case for Hillary (although I know that some female legislators I respect, such as state Senator Sheila Kuehl, are high on her).

And, according to yesterday's California Progress Report, Edwards gave a helluva speech Sunday which converted some of the crowd.

My radical New York Times and Nation-reading, social studies teaching friend Sandra Childs in Portland, Oregon reports that Obama gave a very pro Israel speech to the Israeli lobby and speaks well of Edwards work on poverty in the last few years.

So, keep the information and opinions coming folks, the election's only 10 months away :).

Uninformed Musings on the Dem Presidential Primary

With the Democratic Convention just wrapping up in San Diego and John Edwards' face plastered in the Sacramento Bee this morning, my thoughts turn to the Democratic presidential primary. Here are my badly uninformed thoughts so far:

First, as most of you know by now I am badly frightened by Hillary Clinton being the frontrunner (as measured by polls and fundraising). In an election which currently promises to favor the Democratic candidate, nothing could galvanize the right like having Hillary to campaign against. And how am I to be enthusiastic about her? Yes. I recognize and appreciate that a woman is a strong viable candidate in this race--that is progress. But she has been wrong on the war, she has been a dealmaker/Republican accommodationist in the Senate, and I don't trust her. I don't believe she has any strongly held beliefs from which she governs. I think she's power hungry.

Second, Obama. Many of my friends and colleagues are completely ga-ga for Obama. I can see why, he's charismatic, he's leftwing, he's been consistently anti-war, he's got dark skin (some argue we can't call him "black" or even "African-American" because he's not descended from the enslaved people of West Africa), he's fresh and a relative outsider. All intriguing and exciting, but he is so new that I don't have a sense of his record, his commitment or, perhaps mostly importantly, his ability to campaign effectively for national office (we know Hillary can)--his election to the U.S. Senate was a cakewalk.

Then there's John Edwards, for whom, truth be told, if the primary were held today I'd vote. Why? Because I have met him (I've met Hillary too, but...). I have seen him speak. I have watched his career closely. I like him. I trust him. I believe him. I like plaintiff's lawyers. Do I agree with every position he's ever taken? No. Was I blown away by him in person? No. In fact, after meeting him I voted for Dennis Kucinich in the California primary last go round, largely because it was a walk for Kerry already and I thought I should just vote my conscience. But I think he's strong on the stump, has the courage of his convictions, has a way to connect with middle-Americans, and would be a good commander in chief.

As I learn more about Obama, have a chance to see him speak more, I may well gravitate towards him. I am wary of early and heady support for particular presidential candidates--mindful of the Deaniacs last time around (I knew a fair amount about Howard Dean and couldn't see how they could like him so much).

I'm willing to be educated. And of course I haven't even mentioned Bill Richardson, Joe Biden (whom I've always loved), (liberal insurance company guy) Chris Dodd or the possibilities of Kerry or Gore getting into it late. What do you think?

Round I to the Democrats in Congress

Probably a function of distance from Washington, but I'm impressed with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid's maneuvers on Iraq this week. By using Bush's certain veto to create strong party discipline and send a $124 billion military spending bill to Bush laden with a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the Democrats have put the Republicans in a tight position:

If Republicans vote against the package, they are simultaneously:
a) undermining the troops by refusing to support new spending for all the things the troops need to keep them out of harms way--thereby jeopardizing them with their base;
b) going on record as opposing a sensible timetable for withdrawal from Iraq thereby leaving them vulnerable with swing voters who oppose the war.

By supporting the package (which almost none of the Republicans did), they:
a) "undermine the troops" by bringing them home (something I've never understood but elements of the Republican base are rabid about);
b) undermine the President (see above).

Pelosi no doubt used her liberal San Francisco bona fides with the left wing of the Democratic party, coupled with MoveOn support for this strategy, to bring most of them along to vote for huge war spending, despite the pressure from some peacenik quarters not to do so.

As deplorable as a $124 billion war infusion is, the knowledge of a certain veto by Bush allows most Democrats to participate in this brilliant strategy protected from the possibility of genuinely having helped fund the war.

After the veto is a different story of course, all bets are off and the party factions will probably scatter to their respective corners. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

4 Snouts Up for Blue Door at Berkeley Rep

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Blue Door at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. A few hours before I discovered new high quality professional theater right here in Sacramento, I reserved seats for last Saturday's performance of Blue Door written by Tanya Barfield and directed by Delroy Lindo.

I liked it very much--the two-man play is well-acted, well-staged (a beautiful yet spare set) and covers an important subject matter in a way which is accessible, occasionally funny and not at all didactic.

I don't like to recount plotlines, so here's the official Berkeley blurb:

When he refuses to attend the Million Man March, an African-American professor finds his personal and professional lives thrown into turmoil. Unable to sleep in the bed abandoned by his [sara's note: white] wife, Lewis is visited by his ancestors—men who fought to be free, to vote, to obtain justice. Two exceptional actors embody three generations in this powerful new play from a promising young writer. Blue Door is a searing examination of family and identity that will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to live with—or escape—the past.

Not surprisingly, the subject matter attracted a slightly more diverse audience than the typical white over 50 throng--"is that Loni Hancock*?" "No, that's Loni Hancock."

*Berkeley assemblymember Loni Hancock looks just like 50% of the Berkeley Rep season ticket holders.

Bush, Virginia Tech and the Freedom to Bear Arms

Musings:

Playing catch-up on the news here but did anyone else but me (and an Australian newspaper) notice that President Bush's first comment on the shooting at Virginia Tech included this statement, "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. Certainly, bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting ... is against the law and something someone should be held accountable for."

Why was this necessary? Has it gotten to the point where the NRA has such dominance that Republicans are unable to offer sincere condolences to the victims of a tragedy without pandering to this interest group?

Why wasn't there more fallout from this statement? Has everything the President says been rendered that irrelevant.

Four Snouts up for Three Days of Rain and the Capital Stage

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Three Days of Rain at the Capital Stage in Old Sacramento now playing through May 13th. This play is the first I've seen from a relatively new professional theater company in Sacramento, the first such new ambition in years, now in its second season. If this play is any indication, the company is an answer to my prayers.

Currently housed in the modest theater on the Delta King, the limits of the space are obvious. Yet, in Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg, the production house has chosen to stage a darkly funny one set play with only 3 actors (playing 6 parts, by clever design)--perfect for the space.

The play itself is well-written, playing with familiar themes of family legacy, secrets, and assumptions--definitely influenced by the plays of Sam Shepard, but lighter, and New Yorky.

The play was well-staged and well acted with an exceptionally strong performance by Johnathon Rhys Williams. Williams and the other male actor Gillen Morrison easily outshadow the only non-Equity actor, Megan Smith playing the role Julia Roberts starred in on Broadway (who, while famous, has never displayed any but surface level acting ability in any vehicle I'm aware of).

Gillen Morrison's choices in the second act work but were a bit too close to Russell Crowe's interpretation of John Forbes Nash in A Beautiful Mind for my taste.

Still, the whole experience is delicious compared to almost anything I've seen at the B street Theater (exception: Copenhagen a few years back). And the season ticket prices for next year are wickely low--$55 for 5 plays (normal price is $22 a ticket). I'd encourage all Sacramentens to run not walk to this production and future ones. Important to support local theater.

Is it just me or is carbon offsetting dumb?

The past few weeks we're having to read how Governor Arnold is "off-setting" his travels (new term "off-jet-setting?") by paying someone in Northern California to plant more trees at a rate of $10 per ton of carbon monoxide produced or something.

Is it just me, or this an idea whose time has dumb? Maybe I should be more upset at people who jet around the world for their convenience, but I know I'd do it in a heartbeat if I had the time and money. However, it's clear that such travel patterns eat up a tremendous amount of fossil fuel and generate a corresponding amount of pollution.

Even so, is there any way in which paying people to plant trees even begins to truly "offset" this pollution? And doesn't this whole notion just increase the idea that rich people get to consume as much of the world's resources as they want (now they just need to be even richer to do it?)?

My husband (Bill Magavern of the Sierra Club) has pointed out to me that if Arnold really wants to do something about pollution he could recant his endorsement/creation/obsession of the hummer--or at least stop driving one. Maybe that would off-set my nausea.

When Mom and Dad are lawyers--PJ Day Raises Policy Questions

Our 10 year old daughter EM yesterday: so um I didn't wear my pajamas to school on Friday, but other kids did, and Mr. C***** did because we thought it was pajama day and last month there was a lollipop day and we think there is a violation of the Brown Act.

Mom and Dad: what??

EM (looking at us like we're dense): Weren't you listening? I'm concerned because Pajama Day at my school may violate the Brown Act--you know the California Public Meetings Law?

Dad: Yes. We know what the Brown Act is.

EM: Well you didn't act like you did.

... (we tend not to respond to such accusations from her)

EM: So, C*** in my class is the school treasurer. And he was at every meeting of the student
council and it was decided at the last student council meeting that last Friday would be Pajama Day. And so he announced it to our class, and a lot of kids wore their jammies and so did Mr. C****** and it turned out it wasn't Pajama Day and no other kids or teachers had pajamas!
So this means that either there was a meeting that C*** wasn't invited to at which time the date of Pajama Day was changed, or there was a failure to post the agenda or adequately advertise the meeting--both of which are violations of the Brown Act--so we're protesting and writing letters. Do you think that this was a violation of the Brown Act?

Bill (cautiously): well, it sounds like you've got a good case, my only question would be whether your school Student Council is considered one of the public bodies whose meetings are subject to the Brown Act.

EM (looking at us incredulously again): Well, we don't know if it's subject to the Brown Act, but we think that even if they don't have to follow this law, they should.

Whereupon Mom and Dad launch into a brief exigesis on the difference between the spirit and the letter of the law with some fascinating examples of situations where people argued both. During which time EM seemed largely to be reading her Kids Almanac and not listening.

Stay tuned...

Four Snouts up for the Pillowman at Berkeley Rep

(:)(:)(:)(:) for The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh which just closed (sob) at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Oh. My. God.

Where has McDonagh been on all my life? After dropping out of school at 16 and lying around watching television and drinking beer for 20 years, this amazing young (London working class) Irish playwright cranked out 7 plays in one year--five of which have been produced to critical acclaim in the London West End and Broadway.

I absolutely loved this play, but, as the usher who tore my ticket warned, it's not for sissies. This alternately cruel, hilarious and tragic "something-esque" piece defies categorization. Many of the audience members hated it. Several left at intermission.

Admittedly, it's hard to take the vivid descriptions of cruelty, dismemberment and horror to children--fortunately, it's supposed to be. However, the clever patter, smooth direction, brilliant writing and acting of this production allowed this viewer to simultaneously be horrified, drawn in, concerned and yet strangely distant from the material.

For me it helped a lot that the playwright cleverly frames the narrative so as to cast doubt on whether several of the horrors are real or only imagined--and you don't have to see most of them, just hear about them.

I for one, can't wait to see/read more McDonagh. The only other playwright that he reminds me of a bit is my erstwhile college friend Gordon Dahlquist--I played a violent lesbian pirate in his play Dangercave many years ago, but that's a different post.

Believing in a Safe World

I'm interested in a return to a belief that the world is safe. When you talk with people about child-rearing, one of the fondest memories is of unfettered play in childhood--walking to and from school without an adult, playing with the kids in the neighborhood until mom called you home for dinner.

But today's middle class parents keep their children under close supervision. They are dropped off and picked up from school sometimes until their senior year. Their orbits are very small for the first 13-14 years of life. Many kids are not allowed to even run down the block to a friend's house without an adult for fear of being snatched.

My experience is that it's a safe world. I have never been snatched and no one I know has ever been snatched, except by a noncustodial parent. Yet the news would have us believe that there are predators around every corner. That we are bad parents if we let our children have freedom of movement. That it is criminally negligent to let your child play in the neighborhood outside of the watchful eye of an adult.

I have these questions:

• Is it really a less safe world?
• At what point does our own experience get to contradict what we're being fed by the media?
• If we have a nostalgia for another time, why don't we re-create it?
• How does a generation of children raised in a culture of fear govern?

More on this later.

Four Snouts up for Bridge to Teribithia

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Bridge to Teribithia the new Disney flic playing everywhere. I loved this movie. I really did. Of course, part of this is a function of low expectations. I hadn't read the book. And it's a kids film and it's Disney. But the reviews have been mostly positive, so I was hopeful. It wasn't like I was going to see Norbit (the thought of which just terrifies me).

Bridge to Teribithia is about two remarkable 6th graders who create a kingdom that shimmers in the ambiguity between imaginary and real.

Part of my enjoyment is that I took 3 remarkable 6th and 5th graders to see the film. I loved watching them watch it. The movie is perfect for this age group because the story line lives on the edge between "reality" and "imagination." Between the cruel social world of school and escapism of after school play. That edge is the true realm of my 6th grader, who spends his days at school battling the cruel tyrant of the lunch room and his afternoons battling mythical creatures in novels, video games and with his friends.

The story has complexity and depth, more than you'd expect. It's uncomfortably, tragically sad in parts and silly and sweet and in others. I'd recommend it for anyone except children under 8 or 9, depending upon emotional maturity.

My California Day

8:00am Rise, dress, brush teeth, quickly revise flyer for Unconditional Love movie night
8:30 Drive to and attend personal recovery meeting, don't hand out flyer because may be precluded by recovery tradition
10:20am Return home and make calls to neighbors in my intentional community
11:30am Eat lunch of fresh organic greens with tuna, organic apple and organic peanut butter
12:30pm Pray and meditate in park
12:45pm Random Senagalese man asks for help in park, tell him he'll have to wait until I'm through meditating. He sits down next to me and says, "I will meditate with you."
1:00pm After meditating with him, help Senagalese man fill out job application for busboy position--he would rather sell drums
1:30pm Run 3 miles in park
2:00pm Take hot tub with sick child
2:30pm Review recovery literature with sick child's head on lap
3:00pm Head toward natural food co-op to pick up wheat and dairy free necessities, make phone calls on cell
3:05pm Abrupt U-turn into free "psychic fair"
3:15pm Receive free aura cleansing
3:30pm Receive partial psychic reading
4:00pm Sit in car and make notes from psychic reading, make cell calls to people to tell them to come down to the free psychic fair
5:30pm Return home from natural foods co-op, make wheat and dairy free dinner, with vegan option
6:45pm Eat dinner with family--quiz well child on spelling words
7:30pm Clean kitchen wearing ipod and headlamp
8:20pm Clean intentional community Common House wearing ipod only--if only I had brought the headlamp!
9:15pm Kiss children goodnight
9:30pm Watch HBO netflix DVD episode of Six Feet Under with husband...
11:30pm Download old gospel music to itunes and burn to disk for New Thought Gospel Choir Director
11:50pm Blog about it

Term-inator II

(say this in a movie announcer voice):
they terrified you last summer when they teamed up to
terminate real campaign finance reform. Now they're back at it again--Term-inator II: term limits extended.

Okay, Sara, speak English--it's this: it made news today that the Chamber of Commerce, California Teachers Association and Sacramento Democratic political consultant Gale Kaufman
have created "an unholy alliance" to extend term limits for state legislators.

Trouble is, no one reported that this alliance is not new. As recently as 3 months ago, the exact same players (with the exception of Schwarzenegger strategist Matthew Dowd), CTA, Chamber of Commerce and Kaufman put their heads and their budgets together to defeat Proposition 89, the measure on the California ballot that would have given the bums' rush to political corruption in this state by creating publically funded elections.

It's powerful to couple the friendly face of teachers with big business money and GOTV know-how and they intend to do it again.

I happen to think that term limits should be extended. Not so members of the legislature can keep their jobs, so voters have a chance to elect legislators capable of passing complex legislation.

What brings this alliance together in both instances is the need to protect entrenched power. Maybe they can use that rallying cry to name their committee. You know, "paid for by Sweet Innocent Teachers To Protect Entrenched Power" or, just Term-inator II

Hair on DVD: Flawed Movie with Amazing Scenes & Score

(:)(:)(:) for the movie Hair on DVD, directed by Milos Forman and starring John Savage and Treat Williams (yum).

(:)(:)(:)(:)(:) for the music, and the scene of Black Boys, White Boys.

This is one of those movies that clearly strove for excellence and missed the mark, but contains some dynamite screen moments that are a shame to miss. Director Milos Forman attempted to make the most of the transition from a relatively low budget groundbreaking Broadway hit to the silver screen.

Trouble is, he did it at the just the wrong time: 1979, after the anthems to drugs, free love, racial equality, clean air and anti Vietnam War message had lost their shock power and long before nostalgia for the 60's/70's set in. 1979 was also during that 2 decade stretch when every live action movie musical flopped, long before Chicago revived the possibility.

Still, the movie is beautifully filmed and the score is in my judgment better interpreted (at least for modern audiences) than the Broadway recording, with stronger talent, harder rock sounds and driving beats in some key numbers, and just stronger dramatic choices.

A perfect example is "Easy to be Hard"--which is performed with consequence in this movie by a pregnant churchgoing middle class girl, abandoned by her hippy boyfriend, as a heart-wrenching inquiry into the hypocrisy of the left:

"Easy to be hard. Easy to say no. Especially people who care about strangers, who say they care about social injustice, do you only care about the bleeding crowd, how about a needy friend, I need a friend. "

But the single best number in the movie, and one of my very favorite scenes in any movie ever, is "Black Boys, White Boys" in which Forman chose to cut back and forth between formidable teams of black and white women singing in Central Park while ogling passing boys and an all male (black and white) draft board singing about how they love "black boys" and then "white boys" while inspecting nude recruits reporting for duty. It is hilarious, musical, sexy and perfectly edited.

Okay, enough about Hair--if you get a chance to see it, you're lucky, it doesn't sit on many video shelves.

Make Mine Vanilla

Food bugaboo of the week:

You see it everywhere now, vanilla milk, vanilla yogurt, vanilla creme, but not many people know that vanilla is the new codeword for sugar. In fact, if you scan the ingredient list on a "vanilla" item, there's a decent chance you won't find "vanilla" listed as an ingredient, but it's a lock that you'll find sugar (aka corn syrup, cane syrup, cane juice, rice syrup--sorry, it's all sugar).

My particular favorite is soy "milk." Regular soy milk is already loaded with sugar. Many health conscious people, who wouldn't dream of putting chocolate milk on their cereal or feeding it to young children buy vanilla soy milk, which has almost as much sugar as chocolate milk.

...and if it says "very vanilla," do not pass go, go directly to diabetic coma.

Four Snouts up for Quinceanera

(:)(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five snouts up for Quinceanera on DVD. This bittersweet film captured my heart by depicting a small but completely unexplored subject for mainstream America, the latin American rite of passage for girls on their 15th birthday.

By weaving together the difficulities in a 14 year old girl's life with the realities of gentrification in Echo Parque, Los Angeles, this movie gives us a peak into a tender, bittersweet, but credible situation. The casting was sublime, especially the role of Tio Tomas--our heroine Magdalena's great great uncle with whom she comes to live as her Quinceanera celebration approaches--he absolutely is the old guy who for years has sold everyone in the neighborhood some delicious concoction from thermoses in a shopping cart.

See this movie: it's sweet, it's got drama, sex, ambiguity, and humerously unusual culture clashes.

Some cynics will lament the happy ending, or question whether the ending can really be so happy when it embraces a Hummer Limo? I say si, si, a mi me gusto La Quinceanera!

Political Consultants Need to Be Reigned In

With it now looking likely that there will be a February presidential primary next year in California (adding a third election to the regular June primary and November general election), our political consultants are beginning the mad feeding frenzy for the cash laid out in any new round of ballot initiatives.

Yes, for some reason our Constitution allows ballot initiatives every time there's an election. These animals called political consultants are completely unregulated and make big money off every dollar contributed to any campaign in the state.

What does the public get in return? In the couple of months before elections: vast amounts of negative television and radio ads in our eyes and ears and voluminous manipulative direct mail pieces in our mail boxes--especially pernicious are the misleading slate mail pieces that endorse all your favorite electeds linking them to the wrong position on a given initiative or two.

And in the slow times? Mystifying full page ads "thanking" Governor Schwarzenegger for his support.

Enough. It's time to regulate these political parasites. I'd suggest taxing political consultants as a great funding source for public financing of elections if it didn't ensure that every political consultant in the state dropped everything to defeat that idea.

Sigh. I gotta go. I have an urgent email to respond to from Ahamed Ahamed--apparently he's got a sick brother and needs my help with a banking matter...

All Republicans are saying...

is give General Petreaus a chance. Can't you just picture them holding hands and swaying together?

What they aren't saying, mind you, is support our President. The Republicans in Congress who still support the escalation, are rallying around the new and supposedly highly respected general.

BTW, whenever I think of people holding hands and swaying I can't help but flash to the Brady Bunch's cover of "American Pie"--grinning broadly and belting it out as only the BB's can "and as I saw him on the stage, my hands were clenched in fists of rage..."

Diana & Cynthia's Excellent Venture

I am now well acquainted with the Ultimate Hair and Nail Salon at 23rd and J Street in Sacramento. It's owned by Diana, who runs it with her sister, Cynthia. Diana and Cynthia were born in Vietnam, moved to Seattle as teenagers with their families. They put themselves through college and set out to create success for themselves.

Diana moved to Sacramento first, got married, had a baby and bought the Ultimate Hair and Nail Salon, a run down looking business which had operated for some 40 years in what's now a trendy section of Sacramento. She spruced it up a little, not a lot, rented back a station to a haircutter from the old establishment and started pulling in clients.

"It was hard at first," says Diana. "I got a lot of clients and I needed assistance. I hired several people but they say they'd come, and then not come. They were not reliable. They would call in sick. Sometimes not call in at all. I kept asking Cindy, when you gonna move from Seattle? She say maybe next year. Finally, it next year, she came. There's nothing like family, it is so great that she's here."

Diana and Cindy live near each other. They're both married, both have children. Their husbands both work for larger corporations in far flung suburbs. One of them, I forget which, lives with their parents. The parents cook for all of them every night and watch the children while they're away at work.

They are Buddhists, but they always have a Christmas tree. As Cindy put it, "Christmas not really religious. Christmas is about being American. We want to be American, so we have a Christmas tree."

They like me a lot because they can talk me into anything,

"Sara, how about you have an eyebrow wax before your hair cut?" okay
"How about you have a facial?" okay
"How about you bring your daughter in for pedicure?" okay

I pretty much do whatever they tell me to do.
And they do a great job at everything. They keep their appointments. They do great nails, great hair. They charge very little. They never complain. They never run anyone down. They appear to love their work and they resist my efforts to speculate as to the ages of the clients who have been coming to their station renter for 40 plus years ("They good clients. Longtime clients.")

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm coming to Cindy and Diana when I'm 85 too.

800,000 Privileged Youths Enlist To Fight In Iraq

This is just way too funny--plus mentions my alma mater:

800,000 Privileged Youths Enlist To Fight In Iraq

WASHINGTON—"I didn't realize you could just sign up," said 26-year-old Brookline, MA resident and law-school grad Daniel Feldman.

Five Snouts Up for "Groundhog Day" 17 years later

(:)(:)(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five snouts for Groundhog Day the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Tonight my kids and I started a new tradition of watching it annually on February 2nd--important because in other respects our Groundhog Day observance went lacking (groundhog is only safe for O blood types to eat and I've discovered I'm an A).

An amazing 17 years after it was made, the movie endures. My 10 and 12 year old love it for its BillMurray silliness and mulitiple suicide attempts--"play the part where he runs off the cliff with the groundhog again!" I love it for its profound spiritual lesson: what do you do when every day is pretty much the same?

Stage one: eat, smoke, drink and fuck everything in sight.
Stage two: try to manipulate the people around you into thinking you're a good person so that you can get what you want
Stage three: attempt suicide
Stage four: accept that now is the only moment you have so make it count--learn to play piano, speak and read French, master brain surgery, ice sculpture, and above all love every single person you meet beyond reason, without expectation, and with true humility.

Then and only then do you get to move on.

I fully expect to be watching and learning from this film in 2024.

I'll Miss Molly Ivins

There's no way I can do justice to Molly Ivins' passing. As a bold, large, sassy, hilarious woman who was one of the most insightful political commentators in the country, she was one of my heros. She was one of those people who just by being herself gave other people permission to be themselves.

She dubbed Bush "dubya" and "shrub," she wrote about the hilarious and horrible happenings on the floor of the Texas "lege."

Go out and buy one of her collections of columns and just savor every word.

Should I join the movie bloggers?

I have been "discovered" in the blogosphere. That is to say, some program that sweeps around looking for movie bloggers has contacted me to ask me to join "movie bloggers.com" whereby my movie reviews would be co-posted on this site.

At first I was flattered--they like me, they really like me! Then I linked. The good news: the actual reviews posted there are not embarrassing company to keep. The bad news: the ads. 1 ad was for Venezuelan brides, another for bizarre sex aids, another for singletarians (unmarried Unitarians)--do I want to be associated with this?

Tonight, however, I notice that ads have changed to wireless surveillance cameras--an upgrade? Stay tuned...

Come Down with Clown Syndrome

My insanely funny and successful friend Russ Haan is at it again. This time, he's trying to spread Clown Syndrome across the land.

Don't check out the website and watch the hilarious uTube videos. If you do, you'll find yourself, like I did, ordering a clown kit, planning to videotape a sequence of yourself in a clown costume, going about your business.

Next time Bill is in a photo op with Arnold, he's wearing the clown suit.

Ask yourself this: what will you do as a clown?

Four Snouts up for When the Stars Fall

(:)(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five snouts up for the travelling production of Lacandona or When the Stars Fall which I saw at Cal State Sacramento billed as children's theater. For the most part, this amazing performance art of dance, song and unparalleled computer-graphic scenery went straight over the heads of the fifth graders I was chaperoning.

This production is a road show from Mexico City--possibly coming to a city near you soon, look for it. If you're Katie Laris, don't just look for it, see it. The two performers dance, sing and interact with a series of moving opaque screens which have computer graphics projected on them. Sometimes the performers actually seem to move the things on the screen, throwing things to each other that dart across the screens, arranging the sometimes abstract, sometimes representational objects.

The story is an environmental theme following a trip with mother and daughter through the rain forest, to find out why the stars are falling. Our performance was bilingual, heavily accented English, all songs in Spanish. Some performances are Spanish only. It made me wonder, will constructed, painted sets one day be a thing of the past replaced only by holographic computer projections...

Get real about the real estate market

Is it just me, or is ridiculous for people to talk about not selling because of the downturn in the real estate market? I'm talking about people who have owned property in California for years. This is just sillyness.

You don't hold on to your house, when you would otherwise want to sell it, because it's worth 2.8 times what you bought it for instead of 3 times what you bought it for.

I could understand holding off if you bought it for more than you could get for it, or if you bought it predominantly as an investment property and it's not worth your while to convert your investment, but if you bought it to live in and you've lived in it and it's more than doubled in value, in what sense is it a bad decision to sell it now?

The market could theoretically make your property quadruple in value too. Does that mean that you don't sell it at the peak of the market because it's only worth three times what you paid for it?

In 1992 we bought a beautiful row house 7 blocks from the U.S. Capitol for $222,000. In 1997, we sold it at a loss for $212,000 (which for us was the right decision because we needed to get our equity out and had enjoyed living there for 5 years prior to selling). Today, if the woman who bought the house from us for $212,000 in 1997 decided to sell she might only fetch $500,000 for it in the "slow" real estate market of Washington, DC, instead of the $600,000 she could have gotten last year; should she hold off?

Closely related, some of those who do put their houses on the market complain that the property doesn't sell. Why doesn't it sell? Because they they're asking too much for it. If they lowered the price, the homes would sell.

It never ceases to amaze me that people don't understand the fundamental principle of the real estate market: a property is only worth what people will pay for it, nothing more, nothing less. There is no independent concept of "what the property is worth."

3 Snouts up for Curse of the Golden Flower

(:)(:)(:) out of a possible 5 snouts for Curse of the Golden Flower now playing in art houses everywhere.

This film like many directed by Zhang Yimou has everything you would want in a big Chinese epic: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, glorious color and costume, insanely improbable fight scenes, jealousy, plots and most of all incestuous royalty.

There is more personal intrigue and less fighting than some of these things, so that held my interest a bit. Also the sheer scale and color is visually arresting, if, like the fighting completely improbable and distracting. Mostly, though, I was bored by it and had trouble caring. If you're going to see it, see it on the big screen. Better yet, stay home and watch the Sopranos on DVD.

Sigh. Should I perhaps stop seeing movies?

Three Snouts Up for Syriana on DVD

(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five snouts up for Syriana, executive produced by George Clooney. I was disappointed in this movie.

I expected a sort of freshness and honesty or something shocking or a sort of critical quality that was beyond what I had seen in other Hollywood international suspense movies--didn't get it.

I also expected a level of sophistication and complicated intrigue that went out of fashion a couple of decades ago. You know with the movies that you had to follow really closely to be able to know what was going on--also didn't get it.

What I got was a confusing, and largely not intriguing, set of interlocking plot lines, sprinkled with a heavy dose of didacticism. Rather than keeping me on my toes, no one was taking any chances that I wouldn't grok the interlocking interests of big business, oil, U.S. Government and middle east princes--thanks for the education, Clooney.

I'm sure there are people who learned things about the lengths to which the US government might go to protect American business interests, but I wasn't really one of them.

I'm sure there are people who cared whether the middle eastern princes lived or died, and who succeeded whom, but I wasn't really one of them.

I'm sure there are people who understood why we had to learn so much about the Clooney character's wife and son, the missing missle, Matt Damon's travails (not to mention the virginal pakistani boys) only to have all this information rendered largely if not completely irrelevent in the last few minutes of the film, but I wasn't one of them.

Because of my love for George Clooney, from his politics to the tilt of his head (my neighbor maintains that there is a national network of straight men that are "queer for Clooney"), and an inexplicable Matt Damon fetish, I am granting this DVD one more snout than it may deserve.

Otherwise, I might suggest that you wait for it to come out on toilet paper.

3 Snouts Up for "Freedom Writers"

(:)(:)(:) out of a possible 5 snouts up for Freedom Writers starring Hilary Swank and directed by Richard LaGravanese playing in movie theaters everywhere now.

This is one of those films that is driven entirely by narrative--a great story to tell. It's well-acted and reasonably well-written. Beyond that, it has little to offer as a movie. It's predictable as hell. It seems to have had the budget of an ABC after school special (although Hilary Swank executive produced or I'm guessing it wouldn't have gotten made, and it obviously had a decent promotional budget).

Nonetheless, I am such a sucker for the spunky dedicated school teacher who takes a bunch of ne'er do well kids and inspires them story. And this story, being true, and being told in a way that genuinely makes you truly care about these kids, is really worth seeing.

I cried...several times...something I rarely do in movies (but often in weddings).

Mundane prediction

Someday when newspapers and newsprint are obsolete, someone will manufacture wrapping paper made to look like retro newspaper wrapping paper.

Unclear on the Concept

Well, my "raw" posting the other day occasioned a lot of concern. And while I am grateful for everyone's thoughts. I feel the need to explain. I intend to write on my blog at least 5 days a week, preferably every day. I never promised that the content wouldn't ever reflect my true feelings. So, on days that I'm feeling sad (and that's all it was, just sad, but in a raw, skin stripped off kind of sad), I'll write about it.

Today I'm not sad. Today I'm happy and my skin is on. I'm also still laughing over last night's daily show with phone-in guests: Leonard Nimoy and George Takei--hilarious!

A Reckoning Deferred?

Thanks to the many friends who called and emailed me love and concern after my raw posting yesterday--truly lovely to know that people out there care--I'm doing better today principally by looking at the many things for which I have to be grateful.

Nothing to distract from one's own misery like focussing on world affairs. One friend, Steve Engelmann, directed me to this commentary from the editors of Middle East Report in Middle East Report Online. It's better than anything I've read in terms of looking at the congressional Democrats' relatively weak reaction to Bush's outrageous troop increase proposal.

No pain, no gain?

Today I am struggling, walking around without skin, raw nerve-endings exposed to the world. The good news is that this is what I signed up for. I have consciously called forth seeing myself clearly. Some days this is what it looks like. The bad news is this is what I signed up for--what could I have been thinking? When I will cease to struggle against the sides of the cocoon? When will my wings by fully formed? Does it really have to be this hard? Didn't someone once ask me, "would it be okay if life got easier?" Yes!!!!!!!!

Dina's Diary--a breast cancer survivor

My friend Dina Howard survived a harrowing year of breast cancer last year. She documented much of it on sophisticated audio equipment borrowed from our local public radio station. The station ended up boiling it down to a powerful hour which they broadcast called "Dina's Diary."

You can hear it by clicking on the above link and clicking on Dina's face. I cannot believe the courage she had to record what was going on for her on some of her very worst days. I can barely function on my worst days and I'm not being poisoned, cut and burned.

Unconventional Mango

Today, at Whole Foods, I noticed a sign outside advertising "conventional mangos." I toyed with asking where they keep the unconventional mangos. Wouldn't that be frightening?

I already have enough trouble with mangos, their overly fragrant selves covered with an inedible skin to which my friend Katie is deadly allergic.

How the heck are you supposed to eat them anyway? Someone is always answering this question for me, snatching a mango out of our fruit bowl and deftly scoring it in such a way that it falls into a bowl in neat cubes ready to be consumed as mango sal-sa.

But when I work with mango, it starts with a crude peeling, followed by liberating random, unappealing chunks of slimey fruit and wasting half of it. Thankfully my kids slurp it up anyway, loving every morsel.

So I could never dare ask for an unconventional mango.

I'm this close already to being banned from various health food stores for walking up to managers and asking where they keep the bulk organic free range diet coke.

The Governor's got Weintraub all to himself

In yesterday's Sacramento Bee, Dan Weintraub got it right when he wrote "the Governor's got the political center all to himself." The piece pointed out important truths often forgotten in the California legislature, namely that while registered Republicans in California (i.e., real people) overwhelmingly support such issues as protecting the environment and raising the minimum wage, the corporately-funded Republicans in the legislature uniformly don't. Most Democrats stay to the left.

The Governor then, whose inaugural speech called for "post-partisanship," is alone among California state elected officials in staking out the territory of the political middle.

The only thing that makes it less lonely for him is Weintraub, who has slavishly clung to the idea of this Governor as a centrist even when the Governor himself temporarily strayed. In many respects, Weintraub has been the Governor's most steadfast supporter, putting Maria to shame.

One Snout Up for Troy on DVD

(:) out of a possible five snouts for Troy on DVD. For some reason something I read or heard made me think that this might actually be a good or at least enjoyable flick (I initially wrote "film" but that ain't it). So, despite having avoided His Pittness for years (as far as I'm concerned, it's all been downhill since the ass shots in Thelma & Louise), I gave it a try.

Troy has been backing up my Netflix queue since early December when Bill and I stomached an hour of it and then couldn't go further. I was all for mailing it back but thought that Bill might watch the rest. Tonight we read and answered our email while the rest of it played to the finish. To detail why it is bad would give it more than its due.

Troy's only possible redemption, and even this is a stretch, is as a college drinking game where you get to throw back a shot each time someone says something like "the name Achilles will live on through the ages," or "long after you are gone, the battle of Troy will live on." There's no question one would get good and drunk playing it, but would you ever get sloshed enough to enjoy the tedium of the endless battles and uninspiring love scenes it serves up?

Not possible. Long after the battle of Troy has been forgotten, the movie Troy will live on on the list of worst movies ever watched by Snichols.

Four Snouts up for The History Boys

I proudly join the North American Man Boy Love Association in giving (:)(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five snouts up for The History Boys, a film version of a successful British play.

The film, set in 1983 (with the soundtrack to prove it) focusses on an uncommonly bright and gorgeous group of working class boys who have aced their A levels and are madly prepping for their essay/interviews for top universities. Their odd brilliant teachers, who look as if they'd be more at home at the Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, work hard to teach the boys what they'll need to know to gain acceptance at Oxbridge.

The film is well-written, sweetly acted and entirely believable. If you're in the mood for a sweet and disarmingly homoerotic look at pedophilia, poetry and prose, Bob's your uncle (or, more accurately, Bob's your 12th grade history teacher), The History Boys is just the thing, innit?

Let's face it, NAMBLA would give it five snouts.

Three Snouts Up for Outsourced

(:)(:)(:) out of a possible five for the new movie Outsourced starring a promising Josh Hamilton (and delightful co-star Ayesha Dharker) and directed by John Jeffcoat of Seattle. The movie is about a man who is obliged to go to India to train his own replacement to manage a call center selling cheap Americana objects, in the process, blah blah blah blah. I saw it tonight at the opening night of the 2007 Palm Springs film festival.

It's entertaining, well-acted, visually fun and humorous, but it's an utterly predictable plot. Bill thinks the film may do very well precisely because it's formulaic yet set in India--somewhat ironic that the film clearly outsources most of its production efforts to get made. Despite the implication of the title and subject matter, the film has no real social message to convey.

I'd recommend it for a family-friendly fun film that feels as if you're being adventuresome by watching it, when you really aren't.

Oh to be easy in the harness

Driving with a decaf soy latte through the fuchsia orange sunrise of Palm Springs brought me this gem at my morning meeting:

"You have freedom when you're easy in the harness" said Robert Frost

This week I have felt uneasy in my harness. I have longed for different constraints, trying on imaginary yokes of different colors and styles. So for none of them have fit as well; I have chafed at their possibilities.

So today I'll stay in this harness and just be happy that I have a stable to which I can return and be fed.

Did we really need an additional federal holiday today?

Don't get me wrong, I revere Gerald Ford as much as the next person (I'm in Palm Springs now for crying out loud, what more can I do to show my respect?), but did we really need Congress to declare an additional random federal holiday today? I needed to go to the post office today is the main reason I noticed this, but here's the thing:

There wasn't a special federal holiday for Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson. Will there be one for Jimmy Carter, George I or Bill Clinton? Probably. Now that it's been done once, everyone will read this blog and clamor for it. Oh well.

No resolutions for me

I realized the other day: another new year is upon me, and I don't have a big long list of improvements to resolve to implement. Why? Because every of day of my life is fucking new year's day.

I don't get it Sara, are bitter about this, or pleased? Are you bragging, or whining?

Answer: yes.

I am a pleasantly bitter whine, with just a hint of bragadocio.

Every day, for over a year and half, I have gotten up each morning and resolved to be open to what the world is coaching me to do. And then, and this is the hardest part, to do it.

This has meant starting every day by praying, meditating, writing, reading, exercising, and working diligently for thinner thighs. Then it's morning again and I start over.

So why should today be any different?

Joe Dunn and CMA

This is old news, but I haven't blogged about it yet. Former state senator Joe Dunn (d-Orange County), who used to be a plaintiff's lawyer and has always been close to the Consumer Attorneys of California, is the new chief lobbyist for the California Medical Association.

As long as I've worked with them, CMA's chief focus has been protecting the odious medical malpractice caps called "MICRA" (the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act)--these extremely low caps on damage awards effectively prevent patients who are injured by negligent health care providers (including hospitals) from getting any lawyer to represent them--it's just not worth taking the case.

Yet the California Medical Association, under the leadership of the late great Steve Thompson, had made some strides in working towards meaningful health care coverage, and occasionally escaped from the dominance of Kaiser Permanente, the giant HMO that pays some 50% of its membership fees on behalf of Kaiser doctors--ooh, I should tell you my favorite Steve Thompson story.

Will Joe Dunn, champion of individual rights now be in the position of fighting to keep MICRA caps low? It's hard to imagine CMA would hire him without a solemn committment to defend MICRA. And it's hard to picture the Joe Dunn I know standing up for negligent doctors. Stay tuned...

White elephant gift, people unclear on the concept?

The other day I was in the store Mixed Bag on K street in Sacramento (where everything they sell is small--it's ingenious. You pick this $5 item, this $6 item, next thing you know you're up at the cash register dropping $150 bucks and you can't figure out how!)--a woman comes up to the counter asking for help, "Do you think this will work for my white elephant gift?" displaying a hideous item she's found on one of the shelves.

The shopkeeper and I exchange quick glances. Um, isn't the point of the white elephant that you're giving away something that you didn't want but maybe someone else would? Are you supposed to go out and deliberately pay good money to buy something that you think the recipient would hate?

In my community, every year a different "lucky" cohouser takes home the same horrible garlic roaster from the white elephant gift exchange. Until now I've assumed that the original purchaser of the item thought it was a nice gift, but now I begin to wonder...

Dining Alone--the exciting world of un-eviting

So far 323 people are confirmed for thanksgiving dinner at my house next week and 53 more are considering it. How did I get so lucky? I sent out a message not inviting them. Turns out today's busy people are highly motivated to respond to a non-invitation.

Here's the back story: during my recent ill-fated stint as communications director for the second most losing initiative in California (turns out only 25% of Californians think that "it's about time for Prop 89"), my overworked cable ISP Comcast decided to eat my web-based address book...twice. For some reason my hard-drive back-up address book was 2 or 3 years out of date; it drove me mad.

Fortunately, I had recently uploaded my entire address book of 596 names to evite--the online "free" invitation tool. The rub: evite would be happy to let me download any email personage to whom I had actually sent an invitation (and I had only sent them to like 50 people). So I concocted a quick invitation to thanksgiving dinner at my house and sent it out to EVERYONE I know (and many I don't know, who are these people? Why did I save their email addresses?) When you clicked inside, you found out that it was a non invitation.

The result: a greater response than any invitation or email of any kind I have ever sent out. People who haven't responded even to personal non-group emails of mine for years came out of the woodwork to RSVP, telling me they're bringing their new lover, arsonist step son's etc. The notations of the people who are coming is one of the funniest things I've read in years. And the responses don't stop.

If the link works, read the RSVPs, however you won't be able to RSVP yourself unless you were personally un-invited. Actually, what the hell, anyone who's reading this blog, I personally don't invite you to spend Thanksgiving at my house next week. I'm really looking forward to not seeing you! Please do me the courtesy of letting me know how many people you won't be bringing.

Sara

I called for change, have you?

Off and on this week, I've phonebanked potential votes for Democrats in tight congressional races around the country through MoveOn.org's amazing website. You can do like 3 calls from your desk right now. If you only have one moment to devote, do it. It's worth it just to say you contributed to the Democrat's taking back the house.

Jack Abramoff on Prop 89

I got this email from "Jack Abramoff" today. He's very concerned about Prop 89. Sara

Dear Reform-Minded Voter,

If Prop 89 becomes law, lobbyists like me will not have the power we once did. This would be a huge problem for my friends and clients.

I was the Capitol’s top lobbyist and I had Washington wired. And now some people call me the poster boy for reform. Boy, that ticks me off. Do people understand that Prop 89 would make people like me and my clients less powerful in Sacramento?

California’s nurses, who are leading the campaign for Prop 89, claim they want to protect voters like they protect patients every day.

HMOs, drug makers, insurers and oil companies don’t need the nurses’ help, which is why they've put up millions to defeat Prop 89. Trust me, the special interests have things totally under control in California and it is working just great. That’s why my old lobbying firm set up shop in Sacramento recently. What will happen to them if Californians enact the tough reforms in Prop 89? Is anyone thinking about the lobbyists?

Prop 89 even bans lobbyists from making donations. How would we ever get anything done? Prop 89 strictly limits campaign contributions to ballot measure committees and politicians. You know what that’ll do? Leave us with fewer political ads. Whose idea was that?

And do you really want tougher laws to put politicians and lobbyists in jail? Aren’t California’s jails overcrowded enough?

Please, as my last request before I enter my own prison cell next week, don’t believe the California Nurses Association and the League of Women Voters’ campaign for Yes on 89. California politics has been working just great (for my clients anyway).

Most sincerely,
Jack Abramoff
Please forward my message on to your friends and family.

Editor's Note: Prop 89, a campaign reform measure sponsored by the California Nurses Association, dramatically reduces the power of special interests over California politicians and limits out-of-control spending on ballot measures. Prop 89 bars lobbyists and state contractors from making political contributions and limits the amount that corporations, unions and other interest groups can contribute to politicians. Prop 89 allows candidates with broad grassroots support to receive funding for their campaigns in exchange for agreeing not to fundraise from special interests (or anyone). Prop 89 also limits corporate contributions to initiative campaigns to $10,000. Learn more about Prop 89.

LA Times Blogger Mocks my Prayer

A few days ago, in the waning days of the campaign, I wrote a private prayer for the Proposition 89 campaign team and sent it everyone inside the campaign by email. I got a number of private emails back from staff thanking me for it and admitting that they too believed in the power of affirmative prayer and wished they had known sooner that I did too. We all vowed to keep in touch and I felt good.

Two days later, the prayer surfaces on Los Angeles Times reporter and blogger Bob Salladay's blog Political Muscle

I don't much mind having my prayer posted on the internet because I believed that prayer and I like the words being read by more people.

And I don't much mind being mocked for it; that's something I kind of expected. Salladay is good at mocking and it's one reason I'm glad he started blogging. By the way, Bob, I can tell that you've been to Harbin Hot Springs too. Glad I didn't see you naked in the cold pool!

On mockery: I was just reading a hilarious account by Anne Lamont of the self-appointed pastor and monologist of the Church of 80% Sincerity. I love the idea of being 80% sincere. I think that's about where I aspire to operate these days.

However, on Salladay's part this was a low blow, beyond the boundaries of politeness. I mind it.

And what I especially mind, and I mind quite a bit, is that someone with whom I worked, with whom I entrusted my private prayer, valued his relationship with Bob Salladay more than he did his relationship with me or the Proposition 89 campaign and saw fit to violate our trust by cynically shooting this sweet little message to god over to be treated with contempt.

It's okay, though, to borrow from Jack on Will and Grace when he's trying to keep from punching Karen in the face, "I see the face of god in everyone."

Watch this video: Don't it Make my Red State Blue?

I don't know who made this, but I got sent this YouTube link and it's really mandatory viewing, hilarious (and not related to my paid employment gig this time). It's a jazzy piano solo with some good video interposed of Bush and close congressional races around the country and some fun racey lyrics which are mostly intelligible.

It took a while to discern the first line, which is very funny, so I'll repeat it for you:

"Don't know who Mark Foley blew. Denny says he never knew."

Enjoy!

Bill Magavern's California & Sacramento ballot recommendations

Once again, it's time for my husband Bill Magavern's ballot recommendations for California and Sacramento. Bill's been sending these out for several years now and has, without trying, created a large demand for them. I frequently get begging, pleading emails from people all over the state (and even California absentee voters out of the country) asking for these recommendations as early as mid-October. I in turn beg Bill for them and he says: give me a break, it's mid-October! So they tend to come a week or two before the election.

Most of you who are reading this know me and Bill personally. For those who don't, Bill Magavern is the senior advocate for Sierra Club California. He is a former director of the Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project and Congress Watch.

He hasn't opined on candidates, so I will a little bit. Although I occasionally veer to the Green Party, I am pretty much planning to vote a straight Democratic line this year (note: I won't vote to re-elect U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, I just have to work too hard to get her to do the right thing especially on the Judiciary Committee).

I'll note that consumer advocate (and personal hero of mine) Harvey Rosenfield, founder of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and architect of the successful insurance reform measure Proposition 103 has endorsed Republican Steve Poizner for State Insurance Commissioner.

I'll also note that while Republican incumbent Secretary of State Bruce McPherson is not the worst Republican on the planet, in my opinion his Democratic opponent State Senator Debra Bowen is perfect for the job of Secretary of State. She is clean. She is smart. She cares deeply about these issues and knows the details really well. She is a person who cares deeply about doing public policy right and she is not a party hack. She's in a tight race and I'd personally like to see everyone give her as much as they can in the next day or two.

Click here to donate to Debra Bowen's campaign on-line.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for:

Bill Magavern's Recommendations:

BALLOT MEASURES, NOVEMBER 2006

CALIFORNIA-WIDE PROPOSITIONS

1-A, NO

This is a bad idea – channel all sales taxes on gasoline to transportation projects, mostly roads. Note that these are sales taxes, not gas taxes. All sales taxes should go to the General Fund, where they can be directed to the greatest needs in a given budget year.

1-B, NO

I’ve wavered on this one, because I do think we need to invest in improved transportation infrastructure. But the price tag is too high, almost $40 billion by the time it’s paid off. We should not borrow from our future when an increase in the gas tax could fund these investments on a pay-as-you-go basis, without paying interest. And not enough of the money would go to public transportation.

1-C, YES

Affordable housing and emergency shelters are badly needed, and appropriate uses of bond funds. There’s also money here for smart growth planning

1-D, YES

Many of our school facilities still are overcrowded or in need of repair, and it’s hard to think of a better public investment than public education.

1-E, YES

I’d be a lot more enthusiastic about it if the Legislature had accompanied this funding with the necessary policy reforms, but we’ve got to get the levees fixed before a Katrina-type flood hits the Central Valley.

83, NO

This was put on the ballot by publicity-seeking politicians, and will waste a lot of money that could be better spent on actually catching sex offenders. The odd thing about this measure, which is sure to pass, is that it will require sex offenders to move out of urban areas and into the rural and exurban areas that are usually represented by the Republicans who are supporting this so they can look tough on crime.

84, YES

This bond would supply needed funds for water quality, parks and land conservation, as previous funding is running out.

85, NO

Sure, it would be great if minors discussed all important life decisions with their parents, but having government require it is not going to make it happen.

86, YES

Taxing cigarettes is a good way to stop teens from ever getting addicted. Plus, the money would go to good causes like children’s health insurance, smoking cessation programs, and emergency rooms. Don’t bother waiting for the Legislature to raise tobacco taxes – it takes a 2/3 vote in each house, and almost every Republican legislator has taken a no-tax-increase pledge. In an interesting controversy, the national NAACP has endorsed this initiative, overruling its California branch.

87, YES

California is the only oil-producing state without an extraction tax, and that tax is a suitable way to fund clean-energy programs. I think the governance could have been structured better, but, again, the tax would never pass the Legislature, so this is our best chance to direct this money to a good cause, instead of boosting the profits of oil companies.

88, NO

As a parent of 2 public-school students, I’m in favor of putting more money into education, but this is the wrong way to do it: a regressive new tax that invades the turf of local government.

89, YES

Clean Money is the reform that makes other reforms possible. It’s already worked in Maine and Arizona, and California badly needs an alternative to dirty-money politics. I see the corrupting influence of campaign contributions all the time in the Capitol. The public funding system envisioned under 89 would allow candidates to run competitive races without being independently wealthy or dependent on the special interests.

90, NO

This is the most dangerous measure on the ballot, because it would create a huge obstacle to planning and land-use protections. Don’t be fooled by the “save your home” rhetoric – the poison pill here is the provision requiring that property owners be compensated for any governmental action that reduces the theoretical value of their property. So a restriction on building in a wetland, for example, or a zoning that prevents your neighbor from putting a nuisance next door to you, would cost local governments so much that they’d probably let the property owner do whatever he wanted (which is what is happening in Oregon after passage of a similar measure).

These recommendations are my personal opinions. You can find a full list of Sierra Club California’s endorsements of candidates and ballot measures at http://www.sierraclubcalifornia.org/elections/index.shtml.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY MEASURES

J and K, YES

I think district elections for school board should make the members more responsive, and more knowledgeable about the community’s needs.

L, YES

SMUD isn’t perfect, but it has lower rates, a cleaner environmental record and more responsive leadership than PG&E. Expanding SMUD into Yolo County will bring that better service to Yolo, while giving Sacramento ratepayers some economies of scale.

Q and R, NO

It’s amazing that so many of our local “leaders” have lined up behind a proposal to raise our sales tax to fund an arena that would not have to be located at the railyard, would not necessarily keep the Kings in town, and would require a contribution of only 10-15% by the wealthy Maloofs – who aren’t even talking to those local leaders. I’m a Kings fan, and would love to see the railyards redeveloped, but putting all the risk on the public and all the profit on the Maloofs is not prudent or fair.

Prop 89 May Hire Sweet Tired Cat

In his weblog today, Dan Weintraub recognizes that the new Prop 89 ad I blogged about yesterday is today the top political ad being viewed on-line--16,000 viewings on YouTube in less 48 hours (10 times more than Bill Clinton's 87 ad). He also suggests that we consider hiring "Sweet Tired Cat" which apparently got a couple few more viewings on YouTube.

Dan, we're working on it. It's been tricky because of how tired the cat is, but given that it's also sweet we have a shot. If we can put it together, can you join a conference call tomorrow with the me, Joe Trippi and the cat?

Seriously though--this video is catching on like wildfire. Bill Hillsman who created the ad said today, "this kind of insurgent internet campaign with an ad like this can amplify the paid media campaign by 1 1/2 to 3 times what you pay for it initially."

Doing the math, this week's internet explosion has turned this from $2 million to a $6 million ad buy--in other words, folks, we're in the game.

People Love Stop the Pounding Ad

Yesterday, the Prop 89 campaign went statewide with a new television ad and today the remarkable ad is the number one rated news video on YouTube. “Stop the Pounding” is the brainchild of Bill Hillsman, who engineered Jesse Ventura’s victory, as well as Ned Lamont’s primary win.

Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Salladay wrote this morning that the new ad "is one of the slickest and most engaging political ads in California right now. Which is ironic, because the ad argues for a halt to the oleaginous, overly simplistic but sometimes engaging political ads that dominate the airwaves during election season."

Watch the Ad:
http://www.89now.org/

Read Salladay’s review:
“Initiative Backers Produce Ad Calling For End To TV Ads”

Please help keep this ad on the air by making a contribution on the campaign’s secure online server:
https://secure.ga1.org/05/cleanmoney

For the latest campaign roundup, see yesterday’s Sacramento Bee:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/nw/?postId=6960&pageTitle=Proposition+89%3A+Public+financing+measure+an+election+fix+or+a+bigger+mess%3F

This May be the Best Political Ad of the Election!

Reminder: I'm a paid operative right now, communications director for the Proposition 89 Campaign. But I want everyone I know to see this new spot. We’ve got 3 weeks left in the 89 campaign, and despite the opposition’s corporate ed board strategy, our reckoning shows we’re within reach of victory. C.N.A. has produced the perfect TV ad spot which is unique, hilarious, and created by Bill Hillsman, the media genius who vaulted Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura to national prominence and has an online cult following.

See the Hillsman Pounding Ad

It's airing starting today in every major media market in California. Please go look at this ad on YouTube and send it to everyone you know.

Please forward the link to everyone on your email lists by noon Tuesday, October 17.

See the Hillsman Pounding Ad

Note: Bill Hillsman is CEO and Chief Creative Officer of North Woods Advertising, a marketing communications and political and public affairs consulting company based in Minneapolis. His work for Paul Wellstone's U.S. Senate campaign won the 1990 Grand EFFIE, awarded by the American Marketing Association for the most effective marketing and advertising campaign of the year. His work for Jesse Ventura's gubernatorial campaign in 1998 and Ralph Nader's presidential campaign in 2000 received many more accolades. Bill has been named one of America's top 100 marketing people and one of the 50 media people in America who most influence our world.

About Time for 89

Hey, you should watch and listen to (and pass around) this great soulful rap song video, About Time for 89, that the California Nurses Association created to show the need to stop political corruption in California and pass Proposition 89. It's on uTube and it's fabulous!

Sara (full disclosure, I am now the Communications Director for Clean Money Now--Yes on 89). For more information go to www.89now.org.

The gay problem in the GOP

In the depths of a campaign haze, I emerge briefly from retirement to post this, my friend David Link's beautifully written and thoughtful piece in the Boston Globe on the Foley scandal's insight into the GOP "gay problem."

By David Link | October 5, 2006

THE TRAGIC OPERA of former congressman Mark Foley is the revenge of don't ask, don't tell.

Foley, a Republican from Florida, resigned Friday after e-mails and instant messages between him and several teenage congressional pages surfaced. The Republican leadership knew that at least one page had gotten e-mails where Foley admired the body of one of the page's friends, and asked the page for a picture of himself, e-mails the page naturally found sick and a bit creepy.

Republican leaders responded to the potential political problem by telling Foley to knock it off. With respect to the larger issue, though, there was no asking or telling. The boy's own revulsion at the obviously inappropriate attention was ignored, not only by Foley's partisan fellows, but by some news outlets that also had seen the e-mails.

If this has a familiar ring, look in the Catholic Church for the bell. Republican leadership was acting like the Catholic hierarchy, which played shell games with men accused of sexually abusing children. And there's a good reason for the similarity. The inability to deal straightforwardly with gay people leads to other kinds of truth-avoidance when things go south. But that's what comes from not wanting to know something, and going out of your way to remain ignorant.

We've come a long way since homosexuals had two basic options: the closet or jail. But a good portion of the electorate, most of them Republican, still seems to long for the good old days when we didn't have to think about ``those people." Both Libertarians and, generally, the Democratic Party have withdrawn their official support for the closet over time. States, too, are seeing what a losing battle this is, and allowing homosexuals to live their lives in conformity with, rather than opposition to, the law.

But that leaves Republicans and the religious right trying to live a 1950s lie in the new millennium. As Foley prepared in 2003 to run for the Senate, newspapers in Florida and elsewhere published stories about his homosexuality. But you'd never hear any of his colleagues saying such a thing. And Foley himself refused to discuss the issue, until his lawyer acknowledged Wednesday that the former congressman is indeed gay.

Being in the closet is hard to pull off without help, and for years Foley was eagerly abetted by his Republican brethren, whose willful blindness is at the heart of the current tragedy. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, majority leader John Boehner, and others in the House leadership are still under the impression that the closet, like Tinkerbell, will continue to live as long as we all believe. And believe, they do -- against all the evidence.

But the number of people who believe in the closet is declining day by day and generation by generation. Hastert and the rest of his cronies are their own victims. The political turmoil they caused for themselves is only just.

But their failure to acknowledge the obvious reality has other victims as well: the boys whom Foley apparently pursued. Some of the messages show some tolerance of Foley's advances, but not much more. This was no one's ``Summer of '42." The healthy disgust in one boy's use of the word ``sick" repeated 13 times seems about right.

But what can one expect from denying grown men -- and women -- a normal, adult sex life? Whether the denial of adult intimacy comes from religious conviction or the ordinary urge toward conformity, people who run away from their sexuality nearly always have to answer to nature somehow. For people who fear abiding and mutual love, the trust and confusion of the young is a godsend. Add to that the perquisites of power, and a degenerate is born.

Fortunately for the arc of justice, the closet ultimately works against itself. Foley's case and the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal are the last screams of the dinosaurs. It took the dinosaurs a long time to finally die off, or evolve into creatures that could continue to survive, and the same will be true of the closet's final supporters. But they will look more and more ridiculous each time that they take pride in holding up the ruins of this particular antiquity while tending to the wounded when the building again collapses.

Like the Catholic Church, the Republican Party in Washington guarantees its own future calamities in its enduring and steadfast habit of pretending that, unlike heterosexuality, homosexuality can be either denied or suppressed.

David Link is a writer and attorney in Sacramento, and a member of the Independent Gay Forum.