The Muddle East

Will we ever get our policy in the Middle East right?

We act in the area as if our rightness should be obvious to all, and if not, we can make them pay attention with our might.  We have stubbornly believed that our power and economic cleverness can bring permanent, positive changes, even when it's been obvious those only last while we are physically present.  Once we go away, it's business as usual.

And why not?  Most middle eastern countries have millennia-long ties with their neighbors, and we are far away.  Once we are gone, they must live with these neighbors, so why should they side with us?

We must find ways to connect with these countries which don't require the constant in-your-face presence of military might.

We must also find ways to help our close allies like Israel live with their neighbors without our constant help.  That help has been alienating and Israel would do better with its Arab neighbors without it (once those neighbors agree to live peacefully, that is).

Both are tall orders, which is why they have gone so long without filling. But we must fill them, or continue to muddle on in the Middle East, bringing no permanent improvement despite all of our best efforts.

Walking in LA

It's almost a cliche to say that 'nobody walks in LA', but it holds more than a grain of truth.  Unlike New York, say, or even hilly San Francisco, Los Angeles does not favor those who travel on foot.  But there are those of us who attempt it, from time to time.

There are sections of LA that are made to be walked, sections that contain closely packed stores, restaurants, and other amusements, but these sections are widely scattered across the city, and long, near featureless blocks must be crossed to get from one to another. Where the pedestrian can go for hours in New York without a break in interesting sights, in LA a great deal of patience and perseverance is required.

In LA the walker must also be at peace with internal dialogue, since the spacious gaps permit a total submersion into thoughts, welcome or otherwise.  If you have an issue waiting in the green room of your consciousness, it will burst onstage at some point during a walk in LA, guaranteed.  Best then, to be of stable personality - or on a suitable prescription, before burning any shoe leather.

Those of us who do throw caution and good judgement to the winds and take a walk in Los Angeles find that there is an upside.  More than one if you take the benefit that comes from exercise as a given.  Walking in LA allows us to see a city that is totally hidden from a car.  I believe it was the late, great comic monologist Spalding Gray who called the driving perspective a '35 mile per hour mentality', in that if something can't be seen from a car moving 35 miles per hour then it was effectively invisible.  

Walking cures this - in spades.  You would be amazed how many hidden stores, historic buildings, places of other interest, and nuances of culture are revealed to the curious pedestrian.  

As an example, on a recent walk through Pasadena (not LA that is true, but close and the principal holds) I noticed that Honda had an advanced R&D center right in Old Town, and that the Disney Store had it's 'world headquarters' in a mostly unmarked and unidentified sprawling complex on Raymond street.  A small plaque near the entrance was all that identified the place.

Not world-shattering news you say?  Maybe, but these are things you would never notice from a car, and I for one am interested why, for instance, Honda has an R&D center in Pasadena.   Is it because of the proximity of Caltech?  Or are they just hiding?

The Disney Store HQ certainly seems to be.  Hiding, that is.  Can't imagine why, and I have even less a clue as to why they would be hiding in Pasadena and not nearby Burbank, where other (also largely incognito) Disney offices abound.  Maybe Burbank said, 'Enough! No More!' ... ?

Those mysteries I may never solve, but there will be more, as long as I keep on walking in (and around) LA.

Ducks On Slugs

I have found a new measure of happiness.  

Happy as a lark.  Happy as a clam.  Happy as a pig in shit.   

These all pale in comparison to my new measure, which is also animal oriented:

Happy as ducks on slugs

Let me explain...

Ducks make interesting pets, but they aren't exactly affectionate.  They won't fight too much if picked up, but generally they keep you at a distance.  Like the two ducks in our family.

But they are much nicer when they are 'on' slugs...

The common gray garden slug, Deroceras (Agriolimax) reticulatum, is an irritating pest and a generally unloved creature.  It hides by day in some cool, moist spot and slides out at night to munch on your carefully-tended plants.  

Our 'pet' Khaki Campbell ducks, Sybil and Odysseus (OD), have a fondness for slugs edging towards mania, it turns out.  When I offer them slugs I've collected (on late night sweeps of the garden), they snap them up as happily as, well, larks, clams, or those pigs I mentioned.  Happier even.

Since I've been providing this slugfeast, Sybil and OD have been much fonder of me.  They waddle up in the morning looking expectant.  After gulping down the slugs they charge about in the grass probing every possible hiding place the ducks seem to know (instinctively?) slugs might use.  They even find a few and spend the day in what, for ducks, seems a good mood.

If I've provided enough slugs, the ducks might even get close and let me pet them without flinching (too much).  This goes against Sybil and OD's ducky instincts and is a true measure of just how incredibly Happy slugs make them.

So this Holiday Season, and for the New Year, let's all of us reach for a new level of happiness.  Not content to be merely 'as happy as humanly possible',

May We All Be As Happy As Ducks On Slugs!

Morning Babble 3

It's Thursday, which is usually one of the more peaceful and hopeful days of the week, coming as it does just before the clash of frantic catch-up work and weekend planning that is Friday.

Peaceful, but that doesn't mean there is nothing to wonder, worry, or complain about...

The price tag goes up - I guess the Big Three had to exact their pound of flesh for the humiliation meted out to then the last time they came to Washington.  They were sent home chastised on many levels, and shamed into shelving their beloved private jets.  Some were even bullied into publicly stating that would only accept $1 in salary for the next year.  No wonder then that they returned (in cheaper transport, including a hybrid car) to the Capital asking for $34 million in loans, up $9 million from the original $25 million requested.  Hmm, I wonder if 9 million is somewhere near the annual costs for upkeep on three corporate jets?  Revenge is sweet ...

Gas prices go down, down, down - This is a good thing, right?  Well, yes and no, but maybe not.  True, greed drove prices for oil (and therefore gas) to ridiculous highs this year - a year we now know was in recession, but the scale of the price drop has at least one serious implication.  All those SUV and truck drivers who parked their vehicles when prices were high, can happily hop back in now that prices have reverted almost to those of the good old days of pre-9/11.  Sure global warming is still a threat, but distant compared to the daily assault on the wallet high gas prices represented.  This return to excess might help perk up some of the auto industry's flagging sales, but it will also terribly confuse those responsible for leading the industry.  The sheer greed of sticking with high-profit SUVs and trucks might be too much for them, and low fuel prices might be a cue to do nothing, once again.

Implacable foes, back at it again - The past thirty years have seen some remarkable progress in international relations.  The cold war ended (more or less).  Apartheid ended and South Africa gained majority rule, and communist 'red' China is now just plain China and an essential partner in the US economy.  But there are some problems, it seems, that are harder to solve.  The smoldering enmity between India and Pakistan, which on occasion has turned to open armed conflict, is heating up again over the Mumbai attacks, just when it seemed to be cooling from the Nepalese conflict.  Both countries have nuclear weapons, and sadly, neither seem to be well-controlled by their governments.  At least that is the impression given by western (mainly US) media.  If India and Pakistan fall once again into direct armed conflict, it's hard to imagine how terrible the outcome could be.

A numbers game?

It seems there is no pleasing some people. And no lengths that some won't go to achieve their ends.  

California Congressman Joe Baca, leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has sent President-elect Obama a letter demanding he select more latinos for his cabinet.  Obama has already announced New Mexico governor Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary, but that just isn't enough for Joe.  

According to an article by Bloomberg's Hans Nichols published on Yahoo News this morning, Baca warned that Obama's legislative agenda could be jeopardized if the president-elect doesn't nominate additional Hispanics.  "If it's just one, he's going to have to answer to a lot of the issues that come before us," Baca was quoted as saying.  

Wow, we have a democratic congressman threatening a democratic President with what amounts to legislative extortion - now there's an example of the subtle use of power.  

In the Bloomberg/Yahoo article, Baca came under criticism from another California congressional representative and former Hispanic caucus member, Linda Sanchez.  She said that for her, "... it's not a numbers game." 

It is entirely understandable that a group representing the largest and fastest growing demographic in the US - latinos, would want a proportional voice in the cabinet, but the importance of getting that voice doesn't justify hamstringing the new President before he even gets in office.  

Recommending is one thing, and welcome, demanding and threatening is another, and is not.

This first term, Obama needs freedom to choose the most practical team he can put together to manage the economic crisis, and no one - not even for laudable reasons, should compromise his freedom of choice through political threats.

To read the full article as seen in Yahoo, click here.

Jupiter and Venus - Dancing with the Stars

Okay, not stars, planets, but it is still dancing.  

Okay it isn't, but it is still an astronomical rarity that is worth watching.

What is it?

Take a look at the sky just at twilight.  See the moon and then look for the two very bright 'stars' close to it in the sky.  The brightest one is Venus and the other is Jupiter.  

You will seldom see these two planets in such close conjunction in the sky and they make quite a show along with the moon.  That is it.

Tonight they will be so close to each other they might appear to overlap.  Over the next few days they will separate again. Kind of like dancing, see?

You will have to look very low in the sky and just at twilight (dusk for those of you who only know twilight from vampire fiction).

Here is a link to help you find it:  http://www.wwu.edu/depts/skywise/planets.html

Tough Choices, Wise Choices ...

It's a rare politician who will embrace a former opponent and invite them into close council. It's rarer still for anyone to do that with a Clinton.

But, Barack Obama has done it, naming fierce campaign adversary Hillary as his Secretary of State.  This move was long expected by pundits, but barely believed.

The President-elect didn't stop at one bold move.  He has kept Secretary of Defense Robert Gates onboard from the Bush cabinet, which may make strategic sense but certainly wasn't expected given Obama's campaign focus on a change in Iraq policy.  

There will likely be more bold moves to come, but nominating Clinton may prove his boldest, toughest choice of all. Will it prove to be a wise choice?  As the cliche says, only time will truly tell the tale.

For now, we can be comforted that Obama's picks appear to be well-considered.  They couldn't have been easy to make.