*There are some who feel that the current battle for nomination is not going to do the Democrats any harm; once the nomination process concludes voters will fall behind the person who will go up against John McCain. Former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Pat Schroeder of Colorado appeared on PBS NewsHour yesterday and smilingly expressed her opinion that what was happening was good. Ms. Schroeder is for Hillary Clinton, but that is beside the point.But I really don't worry about the future. I think it's very positive for the Democratic Party, and let me tell you why. I see George W. Bush channeling Herbert Hoover, for heaven's sakes, and now we see John McCain channeling George W. Bush. (Pat Schroeder on NewsHour)What is happening is not positive. Democrats might not recover from the damage being done to chances of retaking the White House.Let's face it. Both candidates have negative image with large blocks of voters. For Hillary Clinton, it is her past and the shadow of Bill Clinton. Her claim of dodging bullets in Bosnia revived reports about her untruthfulness. For Barack Obama, first and foremost it is the color of his skin, and then the barrage of critical, somewhat twisted, reports about his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his comments about 'bitter' voters in Pennsylvania. When both Clinton and Obama -- gleefully aided by conservative, pro-Republican media -- are doing all they can to highlight the faults and weaknesses of the other, prospects for Senator McCain cannot but look brighter. Ms. Schroeder might choose to ignore reality, but at the end of the day that is not going to save us from a looming disaster.Like it or not, Obama being black is a factor that cannot be disregarded. There are voters for whom that alone is reason enough not to support him. Robert Novak's column in today's Washington Post mentions "........the dreaded Bradley effect "Prominent Democrats only whisper when they compare Obama's experience, the first African American with a serious chance to be president, with what happened to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley a quarter-century ago. In 1982, exit polls showed Bradley, who was black, ahead in the race for governor of California, but he ultimately lost to Republican George Deukmejian. Pollster John Zogby (who predicted Clinton's double-digit win Tuesday) said what practicing Democrats would not: "I think voters face to face are not willing to say they would oppose an African American candidate."

*Democrats engaged in Self-Destruction * The WeatherDepressing to follow what the Democratic front runners' are doing to each other. From a sure thing few months ago, hopes for victory in November are beginning to look dim. By the time the nominee emerges from the morass it might be too late. It does not look likely that the result of Pennsylvania primary is going to decide the issue. Hillary Clinton is not going to concede. Obama got battered by the moderators in the debate last Wednesday and stumbled. The fact that the numbers are still in his favor means nothing to Hillary Clinton. Where are the wise, old leaders of the Democratic Party? One gets the feeling that they have they have given up or they are unable to stop the blood loss.The polarization between Obama-Clinton camps has reached a point where their supporters have gone on record saying that they are not going to vote for the other if their candidate fails to secure the nomination. Let us hope that they will not follow through with that. I'm not for Hillary Clinton; at this point I detest her, but if she manages to claw her way to becoming the nominee I'd vote for her.All that is good news for Republicans and John McCain. It is incomprehensible that voters would support a candidate who is like a Bush clone. The economy is reported to be the uppermost issue. Do the voters want the targeted tax cuts engineered by Bush to continue? Do they realize that the beneficiaries of the tax cuts are not them but a very small group of people once described by President Bush as the "haves and have-mores"? McCain, after opposing the tax cuts, now promises to extend them! And the war in Iraq -- do we want (need) it to go on forever?An Unusual April"What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance." ~Jane AustenWell, right now I'd not mind being in a state of inelegance. A month past spring equinox the temperature is wintry. Last Sunday a bone-chilling wind howled through the peninsula all day. So far we have had only a few days when it felt like spring. Unusual. Good that the foothills are still green but it is time for warm days, walks through the woods and picnics on the grass.

*True BelieversA query in google resulted in "Your search - 'Jingolytis of the bosphongus'- did not match any documents." Quite so; I didn't expect to find a slew of items because the phrase does not exist. Years ago, a colleague coined the term to describe people who called in to report sick. Alwyn would say "He (or she) has jingolytis of the bosphongus". It was his way of being skeptical about their illness.General Petraeus, supreme military commander in Iraq, likes "teeth into the jugular". David Broder reported in the Post that the General used the phrase a number of times during a meeting. Easy to picture the enemies -- whoever they happen to be in this fifh year of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- mortally injured. Remember what Vice President Cheney said about the insurgents being "in the last throes"? That was almost three years ago, on May 31, 2005. Those who gave us the war will say anything. They would love to start another war if only they can sell it. Currently, attempts are being made to shift attention to Iran. Fitness of the overstretched U.S. military ? Not important. They are doing what they can to demonize Iran just as they created the mythical stockpile of WMD in the prelude to the war. Tony Blair's government did its part with the "doctored dossier". The game plan worked. We are paying for it; we'll continue paying for it long after the end of the Bush presidency. Expect more jingolytis of the bosphongus to come down the pike.In the meantime, with 'teeth into the jugular' the evil ones are in their 'last throes'. 21 more American soldiers died in the first 13 days of April. And so it goes.

*The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) * Chet BakerThe Band's Visit, Israeli director Eran Kolirin's film -- his first, was an unexpected delight....a heart-warming story about a band of musicians from Egyptian police force who unintentionally found themselves in a small desert town named Betah Tikva in Israel; the band was invited to perform at the Arab Cultural Center in Petah Tikva. The towns are not fictional; they exist.Ronit Elkabetz, as Dina, made an impression as soon as she appeared on the screen. A free spirit, something very enticing about her understated sensuality. Kolirin's development of the overture by Dina to the shy, old-fashioned band leader Tewfiq Zakaria couldn't have been better.There are movies that you forget about when you come out of the theater and there are those that leave a mark. Check it out.© Sony PicturesRonit Elkabetz© Sony PicturesIn his review, Ty Burr of the Boston Globe wrote:The Israel of "The Band's Visit" is one in which God has pushed the pause button.Here's an irony for you, then: Because over 50 percent of "The Band's Visit" is in English, the film - an Israeli smash hit and multiple award winner - was deemed ineligible for this year's foreign language Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has also been banned from film festivals in Cairo and Abu Dhabi. What this pellucid little movie uses to unite its characters - language and love - others are using to divide. You don't have to make the same mistake.Khaled (Saleh Bakri), trumpet player in the band, talked about Chet Baker (1929-1988) and My Funny Valentine. Found a Chet Baker CD in my collection.© Pacific JazzIt was issued by Pacific Jazz (Capitol Records) in 1995. My Funny Valentine is on track 5. Originally recorded Feb 15, 1954.Personnel:Chet Baker - trumpetBill Perkins - tenor saxRuss Freeman - pianoCarson Smith - bassBob Neel - drums Comments Sally Tomato — 2008-04-09 This is now on my netflix queue. I love foreign and jazz. Even better combined.

* "A Love Letter to American Soldiers"It is true that major media no longer gives as much coverage to the war as it once did, and the American public's attention has moved on to other issues. Decline of casualty rate following the surge is one reason, and then the dismal state of the economy; the domino effect of the sub-prime mortgage scam that went sour on quite a few unscrupulous investment bankers on Wall Street and victimized thousands of home owners -- mostly from low and median income groups; the election campaigns and recent spike in unemployment rate all account for lack of interest in what is happening in Iraq.Bush's war, however, is very much alive, alive but not well. It continues to take its toll both in lives and dollars. And for the families of soldiers serving in Iraq it is an ever present fear about the safety of their loved ones. Latest figures from icasualties.org show that out of 4020 soldiers who died in the war, 509 (12.7%) were 21 yrs old. It is noteworthy that two of the primary architects of the war had dodged Vietnam. David Denby of The New Yorker, in his review of "Stop-Loss", the movie by Kimberly Peirce, wrote:"This movie may become the central coming-home-from-the-war story of this period, just as “The Best Years of Our Lives,” made in 1946, became central to the period after the Second World War. Like that extraordinary work, “Stop-Loss” is devoted to the men’s hidden wounds—the wired-up tensions and nightmares that lead to drunkenness, fights, smashed love affairs and marriages. Throughout the Second World War, Hollywood made dozens of patriotic combat films, as well as occasional home-front movies (like “Tender Comrade,” with Ginger Rogers) about gallant wives. The Korean War, except for B-movies by Samuel Fuller and Joseph H. Lewis, went undramatized until it was over, and this was largely true of the Vietnam War, too. During all these wars, none of the discomforts of the returning soldier, or the dismay of his friends and family, were shown on the screen."and:The movie, which she developed with the novelist and TV producer Mark Richard, is a complicated love letter to American soldiers—and to young American men in general, whose minds Peirce has tried, in a way, to enter before.The soldiers are held together by their love for one another, and that element of Army life may make “Stop-Loss” popular with both liberals and conservatives, but no one, I think, will be happy about what the movie suggests is happening to some of the best young people in the country.*Tom Toles, Washington PostTom Toles, Washington Post Comments Sally Tomato — 2008-04-09 I love when i stumble across some interesting point of views regarding our big issues. Thanks for the info. I'll be back.

*Justifying Torture * Women's Right to ChooseThought we had read and heard enough about John Yoo. But, no. Two recent reports highlighted his nefarious role in Bush-Cheney administration.What would be a fitting epitaph for such a man?"He blindly served his president and never encountered a law that he couldn't bend to justify torture of prisoners and abuse of our Constitution".And John C. Yoo is law professor at Berkeley!Excerpts:Dan Eggen and Josh White in The Washington Post April 2, 2008Laws Didn't Apply to InterrogatorsThe Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.Interrogators who harmed a prisoner would be protected by a "national and international version of the right to self-defense," Yoo wrote. He also articulated a definition of illegal conduct in interrogations -- that it must "shock the conscience" -- that the Bush administration advocated for years."Whether conduct is conscience-shocking turns in part on whether it is without any justification," Yoo wrote, explaining, for example, that it would have to be inspired by malice or sadism before it could be prosecuted.The declassified memo was sent by the Defense and Justice departments late yesterday to Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Sens. Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), who had seen the document in classified form and pushed for its release.The document is similar, although much broader, than a notorious memo primarily written by Yoo in August 2002 that narrowly defined what constitutes illegal torture. That document was also later withdrawn.James Oliphant in The Baltimore SunApril 1, 2008The Justice Department late Tuesday released a declassified 2003 memorandum long sought by congressional Democrats and other administration critics that outlines the government's legal justification for harsh interrogation techniques used by the military against captured enemy combatants outside the United States.(Here are part one and part two of the memo.)The memo, written by John Yoo, then a key architect of legal policy in the wake of 9/11, dismisses several legal impediments to the use of extreme techniques.Yoo was long a proponent of an aggressive approach in the war against terrorism and a believer in executive branch authority. But the memo was withdrawn as formal government policy less than a year after it was written.In the March 14, 2003 memo, Yoo says the Constitution was not in play with regard to the interrogations because the Fifth Amendment (which provides for due process of law) and the Eighth Amendment (which prevents the government from employing cruel and usual punishment) does "not extend to alien enemy combatants held abroad."*Further reading: Naomi Klein's The True Purpose of TorturePro Choice? YesMichael Gerson's hit piece in the Post ,"Obama's Abortion Extremism", like all other pro-life arguments does not mention what happens after the birth. Do the pro-lifers who march on streets and argue passionately against abortion spend the same amount of time aiding the infants of unwanted pregnancies? "Abortion" sounds dirty and so they adopted it. The issue is women's right to choose....a right that should never be taken away under threat of punishment.

*The Commander-in-Chief aka The Decider© Steve Bell 2007steve.bell@guardian.co.uk*"WASHINGTON(Associated Press) President Bush said Friday that the flare-up in violence in oil-rich southern Iraq and parts of Baghdad presents "a defining moment in the history of Iraq" as the government there seeks to root out Shiite militias.Bush made clear that the United States stands firmly behind Iraqi security forces and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "He made the decision to move and we'll help him," the president said."*Listed below are the names of 29 American soldiers who gave their lives so far in the month of March for the president's "defining moment".Christopher S. Frost, 24, Air Force Staff Sergeant, Mar 04, 2008Jose A. Paniagua-Morales, 22, Army Corporal, Mar 07, 2008Phillip R. Anderson, 28, Army Sergeant, Mar 10, 2008Donald A. Burkett, 24, Army Specialist, Mar 10, 2008Ernesto G. Cimarrusti, 25, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 10, 2008David D. Julian, 31, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 10, 2008Torre R. Mallard, 27, Army Captain, Mar 10, 2008Robert T. McDavid, 28, Army Corporal, Mar 10, 2008Scott A. McIntosh, 26, Army Corporal, Mar 10, 2008Shawn M. Suzch, 32, Army Sergeant 1st Class, Mar 10, 2008Laurent J. West, 32, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 11, 2008Juantrea T. Bradley, 28, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 12, 2008Dustin C. Jackson, 21, Army Specialist, Mar 12, 2008Tenzin L. Samten, 33, Army Private 1st Class, Mar 12, 2008William D. O’Brien, 19, Army Specialist, Mar 15, 2008Lerando J. Brown, 27, Army National Guard Specialist, Mar 15, 2008Michael D. Elledge, 41, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 17, 2008Christopher C. Simpson, 23, Army Specialist, Mar 17, 2008Gregory D. Unruh, 28, Army Sergeant, Mar 19, 2008Tyler J. Smith, 22, Army Private 1st Class, Mar 21, 2008II, Thomas C. Ray, 40, Army National Guard Sergeant, Mar 22, 2008David S. Stelmat, 27, Army National Guard Specialist, Mar 22, 2008David B. Williams, 26, Army National Guard Sergeant, Mar 22, 2008George Delgado, 21, Army Private, Mar 23, 2008Andrew J. Habsieger, 22, Army Private 1st Class, Mar 23, 2008Christopher M. Hake, 26, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 23, 2008Jose A. Rubio Hernandez, 24, Army Specialist, Mar 23, 2008Joseph D. Gamboa, 34, Army Staff Sergeant, Mar 25, 2008Gregory B. Rundell, 21, Army Specialist, Mar 26, 2008

*Come November who are we going to blame? This time, Ralph Nader and the Supreme Court will not be the ones.What is happening between the Democratic front runners is ugly and harmful for the party. A few months back retaking of the White House looked like an almost sure thing. It is becoming less and less so. While HC and Obama are engaged in destroying themselves and the chances of winning the presidency, John McCain is taking full advantage of it and moving ahead. Hear him chortle?Let's face it. The chances of another Republican president, who has recast himself as a Bush clone, are very real. McCain might not have the support needed in Congress to continue the divisive, reactionary policies of G.W. Bush. That, however, is small consolation for us who have been waiting for the Bush presidency -- a dark chapter in our history -- to end.Researching the phrase "the enemy within", I came across items about the late cartoonist Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo. Interesting.*Listening to: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls---Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays (ECM Records, Feb.2000)

*The death toll goes up and up in Bush's War * Wild FlowersNo, this isn't about John Schlesinger's great 1971 film based on the story by Penelope Gilliatt.On Easter Sunday the death toll for American soldiers in Iraq reached 4,000. A landmark? Depends on one's view of the war. To those of us who were against the war long before the first pair of boots landed on the ground, it is a tragic waste of human lives, most of them under 30 years of age. To the president and his cohorts who cooked up the war and sold it to the American people, it is just a number that does not mean anything. Expect the usual platitude about bravery, patriotism, etc."I can't stop asking why? The more I think the more I cry."---Pfc. Ryan J. HillWild Flowers at Coal Mine CreekWent for the traditional Easter Sunday walk with a group of friends. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. The wild flowers have started to bloom. The wood duck, reported to be found at the lake, was not seen but we had a good walk and returned to Palo Alto for lunch. Fried chicken, steamed artichokes accompanied by a mayo/mustard dip, french bread and cheeses. We enjoyed a bottle of Margaux and a Sauvignon Blanc. To cap it all, there was a home made Tiramisu. By that time we were ready for a nap.Trillium©Musafir - March 23, 2008Indian Warrior©Musafir - March 23, 2008Buttercups©Musafir - March 23, 2008At the swing on Toyon Trail©Musafir - March 23, 2008Shooting Star©Musafir - March 23, 2008Hound's Tongue©Musafir - March 23, 2008Alongside Lake Trail©Musafir - March 23, 2008à votre santé©Musafir - March 23, 2008"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church,I keep it staying at Home -With a bobolink for a Chorister,And an Orchard, for a Dome."----Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

*"The Sun is at its lowest path in the sky on the Winter Solstice. After that day the Sun follows a higher and higher path through the sky each day until it is in the sky for exactly 12 hours. On the Spring Equinox the Sun rises exactly in the east travels through the sky for 12 hours and sets exactly in the west. On the Equinox this is the motion of the Sun through the sky for everyone on earth. Every place on earth experiences a 12 hours day twice a year on the Spring and Fall Equinox." © Montana State University ...