Is the US a banana republic?

"Banana Republic." -- A banana republic is a commercial enterprise for profit by collusion between the State and favored monopolies. In a banana republic the government is unaccountable to its nation, the country's private sector–public sector corruption operates the banana republic, thus, the national legislature usually are for sale, and function mostly as ceremonial government.

Our country is a banana republic. When you have 400 people in this country with more wealth than half the population and the government giving handouts to the wealthiest members of our society in the form of unprecedented tax cuts while at the same time cutting services to the most needy, it is hard for me to come to any other conclusion.

What have they done with President Obama?

Krugman correctly asks, "What have they done with President Obama? What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn’t seem to stand for anything in particular?"

I am very disappointed in Obama. He has failed to live up to the hope he offered up in his campaign. He has only delivered mediocrity and failed to stand up to reactionary extreamism. As Krugman said, "But if you ask me, I’d say that the nation wants — and more important, the nation needs — a president who believes in something, and is willing to take a stand. And that’s not what we’re seeing."

My opinion on the Federal Budget Mess of 2011

There is an old saying, if you tell a lie long enough some people will believe it. Apparently, that's what is going on in Washington. If you read Paul Krugman's post, "the G.O.P. plan turns out not to be serious at all. Instead, it’s simultaneously ridiculous and heartless." Krugman goes on to say:

Republicans have once again gone all in for voodoo economics — the claim, refuted by experience, that tax cuts pay for themselves.

What does voodoo economics mean? It's a term used by none other than George H. W. Bush in reference to President Ronald Reagan's economic policies, which came to be known as "Reaganomics". Karl Case & Ray Fair, Principles of Economics (2007), p. 695 pointed out:

The extreme promises of supply-side economics did not materialize. President Reagan argued that because of the effect depicted in the Laffer curve, the government could maintain expenditures, cut tax rates, and balance the budget. This was not the case. Government revenues fell sharply from levels that would have been realized without the tax cuts.

The basic issue in a recession, like we are seeing now, is a shortage of money. This leads to downward pressure on incomes and prices as money becomes more valuable. People (and corporations) who have money don't spend it, they hoard it, thus people (families) who need money to pay bills can't get it.
This continues the downward spiral. What does not go down, however, is debt.
Folks are worried about inflation, but the greater worry is deflation. According to Wikipedia, "In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the annual inflation rate falls below 0% (a negative inflation rate)." Wikipedia goes on to say, "From a monetarist perspective, deflation is caused primarily by a reduction in the velocity (spending) of money and/or the amount of money supply per person."
As people's income is reduced, a point comes when folks (families) just walk away from debt. People will feed their kids before they feed the banks. You can't get blood from a turnip.
If you think the mortgage crisis was bad, just wait until families start defaulting on massive amounts of consumer debt in great numbers.
When people (and corporations) with money won't spend out of fear; someone has to spend, that someone has to be the government. The government is the spender of last resort.
In my opinion, the risks of not spending are greater than the risks of spending. This is the worst time possible for massive reductions of government spending. We need to tax the people (and corporations) who have money and feed it into the economy in ways that helps the families that are at most risk of defaulting stay on their feet.
In a nutshell: The Republican plan will drag our nation into the gutter.

My Review of Pizz'a Chicago in San Jose, CA

If you want to have a meal there better bring a book, maybe a pillow, because this place is slooowww. No complaints about the food but many about the service. The waitress took us to a table, no utensils, no water. The service was slow (the place was not crowded) did I say it was slow?

She finally took our order. She did not even know details about the beer they sold. We ordered salad, drinks and pizza. After an interval long enough for a whole meal the salad came. Yes, it was slow! Then, I thought she was going to go get us forks. Not! Finally my wife got up and found some clean forks on another table!

After over an hour into the meal, still no main course, I had to go back toward the kitchen to find our waitress. I told her, "we have to leave soon, we have tickets to a show!" She said, "I will check on our order." Yes, this place is slow.

More time passed. The food finally came. It was the best pizza we ever hurriedly crammed in our mouths. Then, a few minutes later, she brought us our waters. Yes, we were late for our show.

Moral of the story. This is not a good place for lunch or dinner and a show. Also, if you go there for lunch you may want to eat first. Because, it could be dinner time by the time you get to eat again!

Overall, I liked the food, hated the service. My rating [Link] 60.

Beach Review: Bonny Doon

Click on photo above to see map

I like this beach. My rating [Link] 85

Since the closure of Red White and Blue Beach to the south Bonny Doon seems to me to have become the primary clothing optional beach in the area. Most of the (90 - 98% male) clothing optional crowd is in the beach at the north of Bonny Doon, which is the beach best sheltered from the wind.

If you are into the "clothing optional" scene, then score. If you are totally disgusted by this scene, then stay away. If you are indifferent, in the middle and don't care one way or the other what other people do as long as they leave you alone then there are some real advantages to this beach.

Remember it is clothing optional, you do not have to get naked. There are some real benefits to this beach and having naked people around you:

• It is quiet, no loud music or beach parties.
• No kids running around, being loud and kicking sand in your face.
• Nobody having a cow if you have a beer or bring a bottle of wine.
• The only dogs I have seen here are little, not obnoxious, on a leash and quiet.

It may be that having naked people around you is worth the benefits. Just be sure you don't get too close to the cliffs. If you do, you may be hit by a falling rock or falling gawker who does not have a life and gets too close to the edge of the cliffs above.

The surf here is spectacular. Big waves crash against the rocks here with sound and fury. I wouldn't bring my extended family here. But, it's a nice place to relax with a book.

My Opinion: This is a great day!

Click on photo to enlarge!

I shot this photo in 2008 of Nancy at the California Democratic convention. It was my pleasure at that convention to meet Speaker Pelosi and many other great Democrats. I am a lifelong Democrat and health care reform passage is a long time dream come true.

I would be in favor of a plan that goes further. I wish there was a public option. But, the main thing is I do not think people should loose their health coverage when they lose their jobs. In my opinion this is a great day. Health care is a public need, like freeways; we all need it. This is long overdue!

As I think about it, it's hard for me to understand how this became a Democrat vs. Republican thing. Can't we all sleep better knowing we, and our children, are not a pink slip away from loosing health coverage? I have a Republican friend who had to declare bankruptcy after cancer treatment and a Democrat friend who broke a pelvis in accidents that occurred after a job loss.

Yes I am a Democrat; but I think we all won on this one.

[My photos from the 2008 California Democratic Convention are here.]

Kitty Hill Resort Sucks in my opinion!

This is the review I wrote on Yelp of Kitty Hill Resort For Cats in Santa Cruz, California:

If I could give this place a negative ten I would. After spending a week at Kitty Hill our cats got sick, very sick. One of them may die. We have spent hundreds of dollars in vet bills, so far. Go ahead, visit the place walk around it. Ask yourselves; how can they possibly sanitize it? How can they keep diseases from spreading between the cats? I wish I had. Oh, they do animal rescue. A noble cause. But, where have those cats been? Our cats were indoor only cats. They make you sign a release before boarding your cats there releasing them of liability if your cats die. Good thing for them. Too bad I didn't take heed. I am full of regret and anger after boarding our cats at Kitty Hill. Our vet said diseases can spread like wild fire in places like this. They have cats walking all over the place. There is furniture & rugs & stray cats & no way to really clean it. Big mistake on our part! Two words of advice: stay away!

I would never, ever take my cats again to Kitty Hill Resort For Cats. For me it has been Kitty Hell!

I agree with Krugman

Paul Krugman, like me, is a liberal, but that's not the only reason I like him. I actually think he is right. The Government has to be the spender of last resort. You can't save your way out of a depression, you have to spend. Spending is the only way to create jobs. That is exactly what we did in World War 2. From an economics point of view, WW2 was a massive government jobs program. On his blog Krugman writes:

A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?

It’s appalling on every level.

It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. [Read More]

In my opinion World War 2 may have ended the effects of the depression, but it was the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt that started the recovery. This recovery, I think, would have been much further along had not a new conservative coalition caused a rollback of the New Deal policies in early 1937, which caused a setback of the recovery. A setback that it took a war to set right. In my opinion Obama's spending freeze is another such setback. Hopefully it will not take another World War to set things right.

Nope, not handicapped

Click on photo to enlarge.

I had an argument with the driver of this car. He pulled right into the Starbucks Parking Lot in Saratoga Old Town, parked in a handicapped space, and went into the Starbucks to order a drink. No, he wasn't handicapped. He swore at me and called me a jerk for complaining about HIS parking in a handicapped space. Yes, there was vacant street spots 50 feet away. Then he sped off out of the parking lot. I guess if you are young, rude and have the California License Plate 4HPK997 (with expired tags) the world is your oyster.

The limits of loyalty

In my opinion, there is a point where loyalty ends. There has to be. When evil enters the picture we may have to make a decision. We may have to forsake loyalty in order to forsake evil.

For my parents generation the living example of the extreme case of people having to make that decision on a national scale was Nazi Germany. In my own time the first example that I was exposed to, on a national scale, was the Mai Lai Massacre.

Of course there have been many, many, many more cases of people having to make those kinds of decisions. Looking at the former example the Nuremberg Principles codified the concept, at least on a national scale, that greater moral principles are more important than national laws and loyalties when evil enters the picture. The principle of my country right or wrong was shown at Nuremberg to be wrong.

If we can look at these extreme cases and agree there is a line where loyalty ends, at least on a grand national scale, do we apply that principle in our personal lives, do we apply it on a personal scale? I cannot answer that question for others; but speaking for myself, I believe we do. I believe we must.

What is wrong with just being?

I do not understand why so many people are so competitive? I do not see joy in it, in fact I see the antithesis of joy; I see stress. I especially don't understand it in recreation; work maybe, we all want more money.

In just about anything I do I see it. Cyclists want to do a metric century, then a full century, then doubles, then harder rides the anguish of which I would see as torture. Yogis (those who practice Yoga) want to do harder positions, then stand on their shoulders, then stand on their head, then God knows what?

It is not just athletic events where this competitive behavior rules. In tech; bloggers worry about how many people visit their blogs and soon they are writing stuff to drive their stats up. Model railroaders anguish over details on their model trains you need a magnifying glass to see. Wine snobs outbid each other and spend fortunes in wine auctions for wine bottles that have to be cellared until long after the buyers are dead. Photographers argue about what is best film or digital and sacrifice their lives, their family for the sake of getting the better picture. I just do not get it.

We even compete with others and we compete with ourselves. I see people pushing themselves to beat personal bests climbing up mountains, timing their bike rides, pushing to go faster, longer and work harder and not stop and enjoy the scenery. I don't get it.

There was a bike ride I used to do called the Sierra to the Sea that I stopped doing because the organizers decided it needed to be harder. (No worries, plenty of others took my place.)

I have never timed myself riding my bike up a hill. I am afraid if I do I won't stop to enjoy the scenery. I do not care that I am not the best photographer I can possibly be; my pictures make me happy. I have no desire to stand on my head. I am getting what I want out of yoga at the level I am at. I don't care that my model trains are not perfect. I relax when I am running my trains. I don't ever check my blog stats. I am afraid it will change what I write.

In the end we all die. Nothing's going to change that. My goal is to be in the moment, love my friends and family and just be. What is wrong with just being?

Calypso Imaging Review

I do not like their customer service. My "new scale" rating [Link] 40

My review of Calypso Imaging, 256 Potrero St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 460-2260

Over a week ago I dropped off a roll of E6 film for processing. Early this week they called me to tell me they were not developing film this week and I would have to wait until NEXT week.

I am an analog shooter and was very dissapointed. I cannot waste my time with a lab that offers such poor customer service.

I went back and picked up my film and sent it elsewhere. Yes, they had excuses. What they do not have is my business.

Anti-Israel Protest at SJSU

Protesters have been on campus protesting what they are alleging are atrocities being committed by Israel against Palestinian civilians.

• Israel had been under rocket attack for eight years.
• Recently Hamas has been firing missiles from Palestinian population centers in Gaza, using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
• The Hamas rockets have been targeted at Israeli cities hoping to kill civilians.
• I wonder how long we would have tolerated rockets being targeted at our cities (like San Jose) before we would respond militarily?

The death of Palestinian civilians is a tragedy. I totally defend the right of the protesters to protest. I just think they're wrong to blame only Israel and not blame Hamas.

Book Review: Chasing Fireflies, by Charles Martin

I really liked this book. My "new scale" rating [Link] 95!

I love books about contemporary American people going through real experiences. I am not into books about perfect people, cops, crooks, athletes, or rich people.

I like books about people who are flawed, people who have quirks, people who live contradictions, people who try to be good but sometimes fail, honest people doing the best they can with what life dishes out, people who sometimes can't resist temptations and people who maybe don't understand themselves fully. Those are books I can relate to. I like books by people like Larry McMurtry, Kent Harrup, Janet Fitch and Charles Martin. I really liked Chasing Fireflies.

This book is about a mute orphan boy and a reporter. The reporter tries to discover the story of the boy and in the process of finding out about the boy he discovers himself and the truth behind his past. It is elegantly written and I throughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to all my friends! I intend to read more books by this author

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Wine Review: Zinfandel: Castoro 2004 Whale Rock

Castoro, Zinfandel Whale Rock 2004, Paso Robles
A big but not overpowering Paso Zin. A real pleasure to drink. A bit tannic with a long finish. This is one of those wines that reminds one why Paso is Zin country and why Castoro is one of the best producers there.

My Rating; 90

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