So, is President Bush a war criminal yet?

I deeply regret having to interrupt consideration of David Mitchell's "Black Swan Green" (I do hope you are, and will, enjoy my observations about this exceptional book). But the world's attention is drawn once again to the mal-administration of George W. Bush.

Betraying Geneva Conventions is no small matter. In reports today (e.g. here and here and here and here) reveal that the Bush C.I.A. unapologetically used the waterboarding torture technique many times (as one former C.I.A. operative and now CNN contributor noted, waterboarding is not simulated drowning, it is drowning to the very brink of death and anyone who has ever witnessed the technique being used would have no other word for it but torture). The great irony, of course, is that this torture technique produced no new information from avowed terrorist Abu Zubaydah after being waterboarded 83 times:

"The Times article, based on information from former intelligence officers who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abu Zubaydah had revealed a great deal of information before harsh methods were used and after his captors stripped him of clothes, kept him in a cold cell and kept him awake at night. The article said interrogators at the secret prison in Thailand believed he had given up all the information he had, but officials at headquarters ordered them to use waterboarding.

He revealed no new information after being waterboarded, the article said, a conclusion that appears to be supported by a footnote to a 2005 Justice Department memo saying the use of the harshest methods appeared to have been “unnecessary” in his case."

The case of admitted mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, is even more egregious. He was waterboarded a total of 183 times (Bill Maher was right: these guys are tough). The result: he gave up a single name of an Al-Qaeda 'captain.' Meanwhile, where the HELL is Osama Bin Laden and that crazed doctor he travels around with, Ayman al-Zawahiri?

Fortunately, waterboarding and secret C.I.A. prisons were among the first things prohibited by our forethoughtful President Obama through his Executive Order privileges. Good for him. Let's hope the image of the U.S. worldwide greatly improves.

Like I said, betraying the Geneva Conventions is no small matter. Many a dictator has been before the court in the Hague. If invading a sovereign country that had nothing to do with 9/11, had no Weapons of Mass Destruction or the ability to attack the United States doesn't qualify as a war crime, then something is seriously wrong here, folks.

On "Black Swan Green"

I'm re-reading David Mitchell's "Black Swan Green" - slowly this third time 'round. My dear friend (the writer who's favorite living writer happens to be Mitchell), has assured me that I will come across particularly beautiful passages about the most mundane things that happen in our narrator's (thirteen year old Jason Taylor's) life.

The chapter "Solarium" (in which Jason has serious, aesthetic conversations with the now old Madame Eva Crommelynck, the same young suicide-inducing beauty incarnate who appears as an eighteen year-old in Mitchell's magnum opus "Cloud Atlas"), deserves re-reading while re-reading!

Event: Jason is shoved off the school bus by one of his school mates/mortal enemies. Jason narrates the following sentence:

I arse flopped into this ankle-deep puddle where the gutter'd flooded.

That beautiful sentence, my writer friend assures me, didn't just happen: it was carefully crafted. In a dozen words (and seventeen syllables), David Mitchell paints such a clear action picture that it's easy to miss the six instances of alliteration (on a, r, s, l, p, and d). Only a master craftsman could construct such a seemingly simple - yet complex - sentence while making it sound so natural. Perhaps that's why it sounds so natural. Talk about showing not telling...

Gabriel García Márquez will write no more.

Sad news in The Guardian of London today. Gabriel García Márquez, author of seven novels, three novellas, three short story collections and ten non-fiction books will lay down his mighty pen and retire from writing altogether. Marquez (who turned 82 this month), is a Colombian writer in the postmodernism vein, styled with extensive use of magical realism. Gabriel García Márquez is perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. Márquez was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1982. At least The Laureate can comfort himself with the company he keeps, whether awake or in his fantastic dreamings: Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Octavio Paz, Albert Camus, T.S. Eliot, Pearl Buck, Eugene O'Neill, Sinclair Lewis and Thomas Mann - exalted company, indeed - to name a few of the Nobel Laureates for Literature of the 20th century.

Bailout or Overhaul for Automakers?

So much debate in the past few days about President Obama's proposal for General Motors and Chrysler (we assume Ford is okay, for the moment). The U.S. Government has lent billions of dollars already to both GM and Chrysler, who face certain bankruptcy if they cannot internally restructure (GM) or merge (Chrysler and Fiat). There is, however, a third option that is an incredible opportunity far too good to miss: a U.S. short term takeover (i.e. intense oversight) of these two auto giants. Imagine, if you will, that GM and Chrysler started making only electric cars. Thinks about it for at least a few moments. Think about the ramifications of an industry that was totally re-tooled for the future. Cars and trucks and their batteries manufactured in the United States. We can revitalize a vital industry.

The majority of Americans alive now were not around when the auto giants re-tooled for the Second World War effort. They stopped making cars completely and churned out tanks, jeeps, and a sundry list of other military vehicles. Without those efforts, the war would have certainly been prolonged. And had we not had those auto giants to turn to, we may have lost the war in Europe altogether (or won it only by using more atomic bombs).

So, now's the time not to quibble. We're in a global economic war of our own making that has seen millions of manufacturing jobs leave the United States. Now's the time for bold action to solve these problems both short term and long term. The future will be here before you know it.

Victory Gardens across America?

The New York Times had an article about The First Lady's planned organic vegetable garden on a patch of White House lawn not far from Malia and Sasha's swingset. No beets, however. The President of the United States doesn't like beets (neither do I). From the article:

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

“My hope,” the first lady said in an interview in her East Wing office, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot, in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street.

Sweet.

Michele Obama is awesome. Her breezy, unselfconscious demeanor wins people over immediately. She's a natural. She's bright, buff and beautiful and unbending in her advocacy on behalf of children. That combination makes her a winning role model for millions of American kids. I hope her seemingly boundless energy will be part of our national insurance policy that is the Obama administration and will not ebb, but shall only rise higher as we bring ourselves out of our "big troubles.' I know that's a lot to ask of a First Lady; but she'll be the first to say that's what she signed up for, too.

Oh, and Maureen Down (our favorite outspoken female reporter and columnist) had a great take on all this in yesterday's column. Her deftness is actually breathless to behold as she compares Michelle's efforts to the creeps on Wall Street who ripped us off and continue to spend taxpayer bailout money on ridiculous perks (as well as foreign banks). It's a must read, too. Mighty is the pen.

A Book Deal for The Worst President Ever?

So, after the AIG bonus mess has captured the nation's fascination (and short-term attention span), and after citizenry fatigue has set in for real from what can only be described as Those Wall Street Shenanigans (sounds like a Broadway play about to open), we now hear of a $7M book deal for George W. Bush. Hope springs eternal, of course, but I doubt his publishers will title the tome "The Life of the Worst President of the United States."

We shall not belabor; now we will sweep. But we shall remember lest we forget.

Anyone who doubts that the Presidency of George W. Bush wasn't the absolute worst American Presidency is either unknowledgeable about U.S. history since April 20, 1789 (when George Washington was sworn into office) or is an unrepentant Republican. Ignorance of the Constitution is no excuse. And I can't help thinking that when those who self-identified themselves as churchgoers (and who supported Bush - twice!) prayed for protection from evil, their subconscious (a wonderfully honest, if mysterious and frightening corrective mechanism) wasn't substituting GWB + Cheney & Co. for Beelzebub.

Beelzebub, meanwhile, was dutifully recording the sins: torture; suspension of the Geneva Convention (as well as a violation of a host of other basic human rights); duplicity (i.e. lying and more lying to the American people and the rest of the world); traitorous actions and calumny (see Valerie Plame); political sabotage (swiftboating has actually become a new verb); NSA warrantless surveillance of American citizens; a draconian suppression of science; criminally negligent responses to Americans in need (see Hurricane Katrina, our brave, injured soldiers returning home from war , and naturally, the tens of millions of Americans who don't have health insurance); ah, Ebenezer, the list is a long one. A very long one that only history will clarify.

So, while we sweep, let the clarification begin in earnest.

The First Lady and Inspiration

In the title of her New York Times op-ed column last Saturday, Maureen Dowd asked "Should Michelle Cover Up?" She was referring to, well, Michelle Obama's biceps and the shallow, ridiculous criticisms she has received from some prominent Republicans for, of all things, showing a little skin. Seems Republicans never learn the really important lessons. Their so-called "Conservative" agenda of the past was revealed to be but a cheap and cynical political ploy, a plot to dupe aproximately half the population of the United States into believing they were the party of virtue. Bill Bennet, indeed! (Mark Twain's "[t]here is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." comes immediately to mind). But Republicans particularly haven't yet learned that a major ground shift really occurred last November and it's finally a brand new day in America. "These are serious times and we need serious..." But, no, we shall not belabor; now we shall sweep. And leave the shallow-dwellers (whose political relevancy is deep under water) for Ms. Dowd to skewer with her mighty pen.

Here's Maureen Dowd:

"Michelle Obama, like her husband, is hugely popular with American voters, an inspiring woman who's likely to make a profound impact on America's self-conception. Volunteering, visiting schools, traveling to government agencies to help remoralize employees, raising her adorable daughters; she's an incredible asset to Obama at a perilous time."

"During the campaign, there was talk in the Obama ranks that Michelle should stop wearing sleeveless dresses, because her muscles, combined with her potent personality, made her daunting. She ignored that talk, thank heavens. I love the designer-to-J. Crew glamour. Combined with her workaday visits to soup kitchens, inner-city schools and meetings with military families, Michelle’s flair is our depression’s answer to Ginger Rogers gliding around in feathers and lamé."

"As blue chips turn into penny stocks, Wall Street seems less like a symbol of America’s macho capitalism and more like that famous Jane Austen character Mrs. Bennet, a flibbertigibbet always anxious about getting richer and her “poor nerves.” The president tried to urge Americans to man-up and buy stocks. In a Times interview on Friday, he further advised us not to “suddenly stuff money” in our mattresses."

"Let’s face it: The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps. Her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff and all the corporate creeps who ripped off America. Her arms, and her complete confidence in her skin, are a reminder that Americans can do anything if they put their minds to it...Michelle has soared every day, expanding the job to show us what can be accomplished by a generous spirit, a confident nature and a well-disciplined body."

Inspiration.

We have to start with facts on the ground: perfection, unfortunately, does not exist. But I would say that now, amidst our uncertainty and hardship - and a very new president determined to sweep things very clean - we have a perfect opportunity to correct the ills of the past eight years - very serious ills. True story: A Brit friend told me recently, "Only in America can one endure paying 50% of one's income in all the varied taxes, yet somehow still allow Republicans to convince taxpayers they don't deserve healthcare. Imagine that! And from a government these taxpayers, theoretically, run." Ouch!

Yet, while we sweep we shall not belabor. Not now, with Inspiration in the wings. Inspiration is not a slightful thing: it has moved nations, and will again. Not too long ago, the U.S. mobilized the scientific community in a massive effort that landed men on the moon. Our takeaway shall not just be our satellite subscription options. Not this time. This time real, enduring changes will come. Just when we most need them. Perhaps the United States of America will lead the world again.

Inspiration. J.I.T.

25 Random Things About Me

1. I've spent the last several months encouraging my writer friend to get off his butt (now that he's no longer disabled) and finish the story about my case in Venice.

2. I'm from England, the land of freezing-cold winters.

3. I have over three hundred close friends.

4. I'm stuffed and that's fine with me.

5. I'm an amateur sleuth living and "working" in sunny Carmel, California.

6. I have deep, deep brown glass eyes.

7. I play on a beach badminton team.

8. I once solved a "missing-bear" case in a single day.

9. I drive a 1967 Austin-Healey convertible.

10. My uncle is Lord Henry Houndsworth.

11. I love children - including the grownup ones.

12. I like reading poetry and 'literary' fiction.

13. My favorite poets are John Keats, Shakespeare and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

14. My favorite authors are F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell and David Mitchell.

15. My favorite books are The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), On the Road (Kerouac), Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Down and Out in Paris and London (Orwell), Charlotte's Web (E.B. White), Cloud Atlas and Black Swan Green (both by David Mitchell).

16. My favorite movies are Titanic (I have a big crush on K.W.), The American President, Holiday Inn (Fred Astaire - what more can one say?), A Clockwork Orange, Alien & Aliens, My Favorite Year and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

17. I like flying kites on the beach while listening to my iPod (Vivaldi, Mendelssohn - and Led Zeppelin!).

18. I rescued long-time Carmel resident and former mayor Flint Westfield when he was lost in Big Sur National Forest.

19. I've met Princess Madeleine of Sweden (nice girl).

20. I had dinner with Caroline Kennedy's second cousin, Roberta.

21. I am a 'champion' Scrabble player.

22. I've never won the lottery.

23. Carrot cake is my favorite dessert after chocolate mouse.

24. I enjoy escargot.

25. I've been in outer space.

London Bridge is Falling Down

Just when you think a substantive conversation (like lowering taxes) has finally taken the presidential candidates' debate up a notch, John McCain comes up with a pander to voters - that actually hurts voters.

At a time when America's basic transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges and tunnels) are in critical need of repair, John McCain wants to take away billions from the states to make those repairs. All so he can save you eighteen cents a gallon on gas this summer. But he's not really saving you anything: like a street hustler, he's just playing the shell game of costs. There are more expenses to operating a motor vehicle than just fuel. There's maintenance. Wear and tear on a motor vehicle costs the average voter hundreds of dollars a year. Potholes alone cause tire damage and front-end misalignment (not to mention accidents) that voters will have to pay for down the road.

Pander never had a finer (nor given the current economic situation, a more timely) political definition.

Charlton Heston - An American Life

A few words about Charlton Heston who died on April 5, 2008 at age 84 at home in Beverly Hills, with his wife of 64 years, Lydia, by his bedside. By all accounts, Mr. Heston lived a good, honorable life - and seemed to enjoy it.

Mr. Heston campaigned for John F. Kennedy, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke out against racism in America and was a civil rights activist, as well. He lived in exciting times. But he was also a complicated man who changed some of his political views in later life (his stance on gun control and his leadership of the NRA from 1998 until 2003 never did sit well with me - but you can't have everything, right?).

Charlton Heston was one of my favorite actors and while he had many more famous roles, I will always remember him best in El Cid (his on-screen chemistry with Sophia Loren smoked, btw - but I digress). Mr. Heston was in some of the most epic moments on film: parting the Red Sea as Moses in The Ten Commandments (how often do you get to do that?); the chariot race in Ben-Hur (edge of the seat stuff); and, of course, his tour de force performance as the corrupt cop in Orson Wells' masterpiece, A Touch of Evil. In 1960, Mr. Heston won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Ben-Hur. He was also the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1977. Charlton Heston was also honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1972; the Kennedy Center Honors: Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997; the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award: Congress of Racial Equality in 2001 and The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.

Healthcare 101

Healthcare is the single most important subject we should all be thinking about. NOW. 47 million Americans are without it. If my dear friend (see this post and this one, too) wasn't covered under his wife's plan, he would be dead by now. Do I have your attention?

You know, I never understood that between State and Federal taxes taking nearly 50% of our wages, somehow, we Americans have allowed our representatives to convince us that we don't all deserve healthcare. DO NOT be fooled by the argument that we can't allow the federal government to control our healthcare. For starters, there's Medicare (which everyone receives when they reach 65). Medicare is one of the most successfully run federal government programs of all time (and getting better with plenty of choice). For the rest of us, we can indeed have universal healthcare NOW and let the government pay for it (with the taxes we already pay). We will still have choice. We will still have our own doctors and specialists. But the bill is picked up by the federal government (at the risk of repeating myself: with the taxes we already pay.) Is that really too much to ask? So ask. No, demand. From your Representatives. From your Presidential candidate.

Once you've lost your health, well, nothing else much matters does it?

Btw, if you are a John McCain fan, here's and interesting article worth reading.

Truth in Publishing

Although they've been with us for a while, apparently we have a category of writers badly in need of a name. I shall call them the Literary Fabricators.

Recently, there was James Frey. His four-million copy best selling bogus 2003 memoir A Million Little Pieces (purportedly pitched originally as a novel by Frey to his agent and several publishers, including Nan A. Talese, who leads the imprint at Random House’s Doubleday division and who subsequently published A Million Little Pieces). Initially rejected as a novel, someone at Random House supposedly made the suggestion the Mr. Frey's work would sell better as a memoir.

Sean McDonald, the Random House editor ultimately assigned to the project, assured Nan Talese and Oprah Winfrey (the single most powerful - and important - name in publishing) that he was confident the events in A Million Little Pieces did, in fact, occur because he had personally checked them out. "I made sure that everything actually happened," he said as the book was being edited.

Of course, Oprah was subsequently embarrassed (a big no-no in that universe) for being so very much taken in by Frey's fabrication of 'his' sordid tale of drug addiction and rehabilitation. Frey endured a humiliating public spanking by Winfrey on her show (the same show that weeks before presented James Frey as the latest writer to win the coveted "Oprah Loves This Book More Than You Can Possibly Imagine" prize.

Now we have a new Fabricator: [from The New York Times]

In “Love and Consequences,” a critically acclaimed memoir published last week, Margaret B. Jones [a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer] wrote about her life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Bloods.

Turns out it was all a lie. And what an unnecessary one, too: if the book is critically acclaimed, a fictional approach often possesses a much more powerful 'truth' to tell (Sinclair Lewis' Mainstreet and George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London come to mind).

But a publisher's nimbleness should never be underestimated:

Sarah McGrath, the editor at Riverhead who worked with Ms. Seltzer for three years on the book, said she was stunned to discover that the author had lied. “There’s a huge personal betrayal here as well as a professional one,” she said.

Riverhead Books, a unit of Penguin Group USA, is recalling all copies of the book and has canceled Ms. Seltzer’s book tour. Ms. Jones/Seltzer was about to embark on a nationwide book tour. Could Oprah have been far behind? I suppose that's the breaks: she has little left but her infamy while Frey has his millions, a penthouse in Manhattan, a house in The Hamptons and, of course, the infamy as the garnish on that particular cocktail.

We wonder why talented writers just don't do it the old fashioned way: a writer writes a great story that gets published as is. Sure, it's harder to get published today; but isn't that the reason you've got your thesaurus earmarked and the entry "perseverance" highlighted in yellow? There are many, many success story each year. And if you don't by now understand that "the Internet has changed everything" then your chances of getting noticed will be straight-jacketed from the start. The author has never had so many tools at his or her disposal.

But, the Literary Fabricator succumbs to the curse of the mendacity of the modern age (or what one well-known publishing personality revealed at 3:00 in the morning over her eighth Cosmopolitan as "my livelihood, dear.") Indeed. And who can deny the appeal of center ring in the circus?

But somehow, despite this allure, I simply can not imagine Fitzgerald, Hemingway or Faulkner (who's debut novels were This Side of Paradise, in 1920, The Torrents of Spring in 1925 and Soldier's Pay in 1926 respectively) producing anything fake. Their 'reality' was intense enough for us all.

And if immortality is the goal, well, you can't really fake that. And if money and fifteen minutes of fame is the goal, what a sad waste of talent.

Healthcare Professionals Extraordinaire!

My blogging has taken a back seat - again - to watch over the recovery of my dear friend whom I wrote about on February 25th. Turned out there was a serious, life-threatening complication that developed after the original cervical laminoplasty: a complication that the surgeon in all of his of 33 years practicing had never seen before. Two words: cervical kyphosis. And if you want to look it up, it's as bad as bad can be. Fortunately because the severe curvature of the cervical spine (neck area) developed so rapidly (five weeks after surgery) it was not the type of deformity termed 'fixed' and the Gardner-Wells tong traction technique in hospital straightened the spine after 24 hours; this fact alone was very encouraging to the surgeon, enough so because my dear friend's head was no longer so severely pushed downward on his chest (kyphosis can eventually sever the spinal cord causing total paralysis or even death - yes, it can get as bad as that). So, the surgeon placed my dear friend in the Halo mobile traction device, a serious, state-of-the-art contraption held in place by four ultra-sharp pins that are screwed one-eighth of an inch directly into the skull (quadruple ouch!). Now, he'll be in traction at home for two months, after which - if all goes well - the neck muscles will adhere to the spine and heal properly.

But that's not the main point of this post.

This time, however, the five days in hospital were as different as night and day from before, during the initial operation in January '08. This time, my dear friend had 'round the clock care; aggressive pain management; a private room; and more doctors and nurses in and out that it was dizzying. The staff even allowed me to sleep in the room for three of the five nights.

While my previous post (below) stands I would like to gratefully acknowledge the many superlative health-care professionals who made such a profound difference during my dear friend's second hospital stay.

While I cannot name the hospital or the doctors' and nurses' full names (for all the obvious legal reasons), here are some of the wonderful professionals that turned my dear friend's life around.

Michael, the lead ortho-technician, made us feel from the start that we were the center of attention and insisted we maintain that attitude. His was a take charge personality that filtered down to his entire team.

The Registered Nurses: Margaret, Don, Brenda, Jeff, Tori, et al (I wish I could remember even the nurses aides' names) were in the room within minutes when called upon). And, of course, they kept up a schedule of regular 'round the clock medicine and pain management administration that would make any MBA dean proud.

The doctors: Dr. R. you know who you are! Dr. Y's second opinion proved most informative - but we went with Dr. R. this time.

Sonny, the physical therapist, convinced my dear friend he could actually overcome the pain as well as the top-heavy Halo-vest to get out of bed and walk (sounds easy until it's your turn!).

I know that I will update this post as the memories of those five days become even clearer. Suffice it to say that we shall never forget the compassion and care received.

And my dear friend is on his way to recovery...

Missing in Action

I don't know if there is a better, more polite way to put what can only be described as a soul shaking, life changing experience: For the past month I've been in hospital and home-care, helping a dear friend recuperate from spinal surgery and the Healthcare Industry.

As so many of these stories begin, the medical gods (surgeons to the non-believers) performed their miraculous skills that most of us find incomprehensible as they are explained in those intense pre-operative surgical consultations. But the problems with my friend began during the post-operative period when he was moved from intensive care, (where the pain was treated with care and compassion) to the general ward where neither attitude nor care prevailed. Logically I know I am overreacting somewhat here as there are doubtless many fine, caring Registered Nurses devoted to their patients. But watching my friend go through his searing agony overwhelms my sense of logic and enrages one to tears. Unfortunately all it takes is a few 'bad apples' combined with a serious national labor shortage that exposes the uncaring for who and what they are. And this problem isn't going away. In fact, quite the opposite: the U.S. alone will be short some 340,000 Registered Nursing positions by 2020 when most of the 'baby boomers' will begin to enter their seventies.

Here's a modest proposal: free nursing education to anyone who agrees to work at a hospital in their community for four years. The incentive? The national average annual base salary after four years on the job is $54,000! And this rate increases considerably in the ten largest U.S. markets. Talk about writing your own ticket! But - and this is a big but - psychological testing MUST be an important part of the process. Society deserves to know for certain that these folks have a real vocation for such an important job. Vocation may be an old fashion term, but in this context it means just one thing (beyond aptitude) - and that one word would be Compassion.

Joint Chiefs Chairman: Close Guantanamo

The Associated Press has quite a story on the wire. Seems that at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base today "[t]he chief of the U.S. military said he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been 'pretty damaging' to the image of the United States."

Well, duh! That and extraordinary rendition (i.e. torture by the homefolk) is certain to consign some in the administration to the seventh circle of hell (the eighth circle has long held a special section in reserve for those at the top).

"I'd like to see it [Guantanamo Bay prison] shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.

Good for him! I like this guy!

And to think that Mitt Romney is still considered a viable candidate for the office of President of the United States of America! What was the Mitt thinking when he publicly stated he would double the size of Guantanamo Bay prison were he to win the election? Apparently, this Mormon isn't out to win any hearts or minds around the world, precisely when America needs to do just that. The phrase What would Jesus do? comes to mind.

Romney (an avid pro-war candidate) avoided military service in Vietnam. But now, apparently, he knows better than those in the military how to protect us. Oh, and true to form, not one of his five sons (current ages 26, 29, 32, 36 and 37) has served in Iraq, though they are vociferously campaigning for dad and supporting dad's views. George Orwell, prescient as ever, hit the mark when he said "all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

But kudos to Admiral Michael Mullen.

Surf Was Up at Mavericks!

I admit to an unhealthy fear of the water: the one time I did try swimming (after being pushed into a canal in Venice), I sank like a waterlogged bolt of fine wool gabardine. However, I discovered an utter fascination with surfing (watching, that is) on a long-ago vacation in O'Hawaii. The big wave riders at the North Shore breaks such as Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach and the Bonzai Pipeline are amazing athletes in what many professional commentators consider the most dangerous sport on the planet.

Living in Carmel, California for the past eighteen years, I regularly walk down to the beach and sit for an hour or so to watch the locals rip. But yesterday, I motored up Coastal Route 1 to Half Moon Bay to see this year's Mavericks Surf Contest at Pillar Point. The magnitude of what these intrepid acquamariners face is documented below.

The Green Room

Mavericks Surf

Mercury News event coverage

New York Times article