Rich Berkeley Students or Urban Farmers?

I fell out of my chair with laughter when I heard the story of UC Berkeley students trying to convert the 10 acre Gill Tract (it looks like an empty lot on San Pablo and Marin in Albany, near the police station) into agricultural land. They showed up with Vera Wang grubbies and gardening tools from Smith & Hawkin (kidding; I did not go down to check it out).

I am a wee bit familiar with that land. It is not rich agricultural land, nor is the soil virgin, pristine, or uncontaminated: this is smack dab in the middle of a dense, urban area surrounded by gas station convenience stores and car repair places; what do you think? Plus, the rainy season is so totally over; with luck, you might get a couple of sprinkles. Any agricultural success will require regular irrigation into the fall, and I do not mean a dozen English majors from Cal showing up after finals with one-gallon watering cans.

Sigh...

Yes, feeding the poor is very commendable. But, please, can we get serious? Have you Cal students ever heard of 'Night on the Streets?' No? I did not think so: Google it.  

California High Speed Rail is a Joke, and I Can Prove It

OK, if Gov Moonbeam's high speed, shiny metal choo-choo train gets built, this is what the paying passenger will see:

• one-way = $120 (2009 estimate)
• duration = 2.5 hours

OK, now let us try to book a plane ticket duplicating this route

• www.southwest.com [2 week advance purchase, Monday flight]
• SFO to LAX:
• travel time = 1 hour 20 minutes
• add 1 hour before flight leaves to clear TSA lines (less if you buy a refundable ticket, since these include priority check-in)
• flights leave every 2 hours or so
• refundable ticket = $206 to $190
• Wanna Get Away = $91 (non-refundable)
• total travel time = 2 hours 20 minutes

Coast Starliner (www.Amtrak.com)

• $88
• 12 hour travel time [lv Jack London Square 8am, arr Union Station 8pm]

Those of you who need to get to LA in a couple hours, you already have a choice right now, today. It is called an airplane. If you insist on train travel and are not in a hurry, you can do it right now. If you wish to travel by train and get there just as fast an airplane, you will have to wait a couple of decades and hope that the Golden State will fork over the $100 billion or so it will take to build the new choo-choo train.

Tea Party and OWS = yin and yang

• It takes 2 to tango.


• The flip side of the coin.


• Laurel to Hardy, Gracey and Allen.


• And any other cliche you can think of.

Yin = Tea Party
people who are tired of paying other peoples' bills.

Yang = OWS
people who are mad because they are not getting their fair share of the loot.

Surrender, Mitt

Surely, Governor, by now you have figured out that some of us Republicans hate your guts. Any number of Presidential candidates have gained currency not because they are constructed of Presidential timber, but because he/she is not you.

You do understand, don't you, that your continued Presidential campaign threatens the very existence of the Republican party? How does that go now, Mr Romney? Discretion is the better part of valor?

Surely you are aware that many would rather vote for a plate of Brussel Sprouts? If you do not understand these feelings, then you surely are not qualified to be President of the United States of America.

Oakland Mayor - case study of a failure of leadership

Watching Oakland's Mayor (he/she will probably want me to mention the name) impotently flailing around dealing with the 'Occupy' whatever is a pitiful spectacle. This is a good object lesson that being the chief executive of a political entity, where it be a nation, state, or just a city, is not an easy task.

There are many moving parts that you must take into account simulateously:
**the health and well being of the citizens in general
**the normal functioning of local businesses who pay the municipal taxes that fund the paychecks of police and others
**the effective functioning of gov't employees, including security and law enforcement
**keeping peace and order and life as usual
**the right of political protests of various groups
**the political opinion of those who voted for you
**the political opinion of everyone in your pervue, including those who did not vote for you

In order to be a successful leader, you must coordinate all of these factors and more. It is not easy. Said mayor, thus far, has failed in this task rather spectacularly, and should function as a case study of what not to do if you ever become the chief executive of a political entity.

Keep in mind that said mayor had mucho experience as a long standing member of the local city council. This experience clearly was of no help in preparing this person in becoming the chief executive. Let this be an object lesson in the upcoming Presidential elections.

Herman Cain is innocent - a personal anecdote

The lawyer who leaked info about Mr Cain's sexual harrasment accusation was very clever. He/she surely knew that someone who is innocent of such charges, when exposed in the press, will apparently act as if the accused is totally guilty. My kudos to the lawyer in question, who executed a rather effective case of character assassination.

Permit me to elucidate a personal experience about a workplace accusation of sexual harrassment. No, not me, but a close personal friend and co-worker.

**step 1 - a fellow employee acccuses you of sexual harrassment on the job.
**step 2 - the competing set of lawyers interact
**step 3- up to now, you are totally clueless, and you are unaware of anything going on
**step 4 - your boss calls you into his/her office, there are several dudes/gals in business dress, and you asked several specific questions about what you did or said on specific dates. You answer to the best of you ability.
**step 5 - your boss thanks you for your cooperation, and you are excused
**step 6 - you never hear anything about this ever again. You never know who or what you were accused of. Well, you might have some suspicions based on what you are asked.
**step 7 - you might or might not be asked to sign a secrecy agreement about the whole affair.
**step 8 - you continue to work in your job for several more years, no problem.

The next step, as you may have guessed, you are a candidate for political office and are confronted by a reporter and camera crew, asking you about the charges and what about it and the settlement $$ and so forth. You have no clue, and appear like the proverbial 'dear in the headlights' thing.

The reaction of Mr. Cain, based on my personal experience, is clearly the reaction of someone who is totally innocent. So there. Can we move on to tax questions now?

Joe Paterno (JP): a football legend goes terribly wrong

To catch up those who are not collegiate football fans: the Penn State football program, for several decades, has been regarded as the ur-type of collegiate sports. Everything that is good is encompassed therein, and many colleges and universities across the nation have patterned themselves after Penn State. This remarkable legend is due solely to their football coach: JP.

Scandal: one of JP's direct reports (defensive coordinator) was caught in the act of doing unspeakable things to a 10 year old boy in the shower. Said person, and the fact he was a pedophile and sexual predator, was well know to JP and the entire command staff up and down the Penn State athletic department. Rather than act immediately to neutralize this demon, they protected him, and this effort continued for years.

Ya know, in my book, if you are aware of a crime and do nothing to bring the evil doer to justice, then you are just as culpable as the perpetrator himself. So, yes, I am suggesting that JP himself might just as well have violated that young, innocent boy himself. His crime would be no greater.