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Can we expect the midterm elections to bring a sea change? Signs are encouraging. The domino effect of the president's abysmal approval rating is becoming painfully clear to the Republicans. "And the possibility of a Democratic tide that might sweep in second- or third-tier challengers is no longer mere fantasy talk among liberals at cocktail parties. It is a genuine Republican fear. According to figures from state polls published this week by SurveyUSA, Bush has an approval rating above 50 percent in just four states -- Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Nebraska. His disapproval rating is 60 percent or higher in such key battlegrounds as Virginia, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey."Does he still receive messages from God? The President ought to be able to appreciate Proverb 16:18: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. "

Wild Flowers * Deer, RattlesnakesAfter the long spell of cold and rainy days it felt like spring last Wednesday (April 19th). It was sunny and warm. The long range weather forecast indicates that we still have some wet days ahead of us.JHL and I took advantage of the weather to go hiking in Edgewood Park. This is a good time of the year to go there. Edgewood Park is limited in terms of trails that offer long hikes. But parts of the park are hilly and one can get a good panoramic view of the Bay area. We take the trailhead at the junction of Edgewood Road and Canãda Road (west of 280), not the main entrance off Edgewood Road.Edgewood Park is known for display of wild flowers in spring. We took the Serpentine Trail and then Ridgeview to the top of the hill. Then we sat down on the grass, facing west with Hwy 280 about a mile away, for a picnic of Lanterne pasta with roasted butternut squash, pine nuts and sage, and asparagus gratin, accompanied by a Johannisberg Riesling; coffee, and dark chocolate for dessert. The photographs of Edgewood Park are from Paul Furman's edgehill.net The gallery includes various locations in California---from the Bay area to the High Desert. Mr. Furman's photographs are superb. Cream Cups [Platystemon californicus] Poppy Family. © Paul FurmanSuncups [Oenothera spp.], Blue-eyed Grass [Sisyrinchium bellum] © Paul FurmanLooking west from the ridge © Paul FurmanOwl's Clover [Orthocarpus > Castilleja exserta] Goldfields and Tidy Tips. © Paul FurmanSuncups [Oenothera spp.], Blue-eyed Grass [Sisyrinchium bellum] © Paul FurmanBlue-eyed Grass [Sisyrinchium bellum] © Paul Furman On the return leg we made a loop via Ridgeview to Serpentine. Saw a few deers,healthy and not too afraid of human beings. Edgewood is a habitat for rattle snakes also and the warm weather brings them out. Joanne and I were talking about snakes when a woman runner passed us and all of a sudden came to a halt about 20 yards ahead of us. I could see a long dark object lying across the trail and thought that it was a snake. It was. A big rattle snake. It slowly crossed the trail and went into the brush alongside. The runner was hesitant to go past that spot. We went first. The rattler was visible,long and thick. Yes, I am aware that they are not aggressive and are not likely to attack unless provoked. Nevertheless, I am afraid of them, almost stepped on one when I was running on a trail a few years back. I don't like anything that slithers....even lizards make me feel uneasy. I am cautious when I hike or run on trails in warm weather.

Sounds noble but what India is doing is recognizing which side the bread is buttered and to heck with the moral implications of its decision to go to bed with a country which,under G.W. Bush, has adopted an arrogant policy of 'my way or no other way'. Jim Hoagland in the Post: "This lack of nuclear cooperation is the last remaining cobweb from our old relationship, and we can now sweep it aside," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said with an expressive wave of his hand. "There are no other barriers to a more productive, more durable relationship with the United States. The potential is enormous for our two nations.""Expediency often silences justice."--- Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

They are the ones we don't read much about. Women combat amputees. The Post article by Donna St. George describes the experience of a few of them."Their numbers are small, 11 in three years of war, compared with more than 350 men. They are not quite a band of sisters, but more a chain of women linked by history and experience and fate -- one extending herself to another who then might offer something for the next." They have discovered, at various points of their recovery, that gender has made a difference -- "not better or worse," as Halfaker put it, "just different." For Halfaker, an athlete with a strong sense of her physical self, the world was transformed June 19, 2004, on a night patrol through Baqubah, Iraq. Out of nowhere had come the rocket-propelled grenade, exploding behind her head. Another soldier's arm was sheared off. Blood was everywhere. "Get us out of the kill zone!" she yelled to the Humvee driver. She was a 24-year-old first lieutenant, a platoon leader who two months earlier had led her unit in repulsing a six-hour attack on a police station in Diyala province. As medics worked to stabilize her, she warned: "You bastards better not cut my arm off." Latest data from Iraq Coalition Casualties:In March 2006: 50Total since beginning of the war: 2378 (Female fatalities 57)Injured (not returned to duty): 8058Injured (returned to duty): 9491Civilians killed by military intervention in Iraq: 34,511 (Minimum) 38,660 (Maximum)Source: Iraq Body Count "War hath no fury like a noncombatant"---C.E. Montague (1867-1928), British soldier,author,journalistNote: "Sorrowing Lies My Land" is the title of a book by the Goan author Lambert Mascarenhas. It was written long before the unjustified war in Iraq.

Double Standard of the Dept of State * National Parks Service dying a slow death Teodoro Obiang Nguema is president of Equatorial Guinea, "Africa's third largest oil producer". An editorial in the Post,"With Friends Like these....",reads: " According to State Department reports, the president's goons have urinated on prisoners, sliced their ears and smeared them with oil to attract stinging ants." So, what did head of the State Department do? Offered a warm welcome to President Obiang Nguema! Fidel Castro is an enemy---don't ask why. In the global rankings of political and civil liberties compiled by Freedom House, only seven countries rate worse than Equatorial Guinea. If President Bush and Ms. Rice want anyone to take their pro-democracy rhetoric seriously, they must stop throwing bouquets to odious dictators. The meeting with Mr. Obiang was presumably a reward for his hospitable treatment of U.S. oil firms, though we cannot be sure since the State Department declined our invitation to comment. But Ms. Rice herself argues that U.S. foreign policy spent too long coddling corruption and autocracy in Arab oil states. Surely she doesn't have a different standard for Africa? Is the Post being facetious? It is a known fact that we observe double-standard in deciding who are our friends. If a murderous dictator happens to be head of a country with large oil deposits and he opens the door to American oil companies, he is a friend and he can do no wrong.Inching Toward Privatization Buried in Page A11 of the Post was an item about the slow bleeding of the Park Service. Squeeze until the ground becomes ready for privatization. The president failed to convince the nation of the benefits of privatizing Social Security but he could succeed in accomplishing his goal for the National Parks. "The Bush administration has ordered America's national parks to show that they can function at 80 percent or less of their operating budgets, which is forcing some parks to cut services for visitors as summer approaches."

Death Valley * Joshua Tree National Park At the beginning of April, a friend and I went to the High Desert area. It was a long drive---about 1500 miles roundtrip from the Silicon Valley---and my first visit to that part of California. The landscape changed during the drive. The unusually heavy spring rains made a difference. The meadows and the foothills were green. Even when we got on to Interstate 5 and headed south toward Wasco the fields looked soft and velvety. It was only after we took Hwy 58 and drove through Tehachapi and Mojave that the changes became noticeable. The barren stretches of land and rocky outcroppings were in marked contrast to what lay behind us. I thought that one had to be of a special breed to opt to live there. Not many do.Red Rock Canyon, Hwy 14/178 to Death Valley © www.earth.edu.waseda.ac.jpHwy 190, Death Valley© rogerhe,stock.xchng The Sierra Club's website describes it in a nutshell: ...

How sweet it is! It brightened my morning to read confirmation of the president's falling popularity. The Bush juggernaut is showing signs of wear and tear. Is Karl Rove's head spinning? He must be going bonkers. "Polls have reflected voter discontent with Bush for many months, but as the election nears, operatives are paying special attention to one subset of the numbers. It is the wide disparity between the number of people who are passionate in their dislike of Bush vs. those who support him with equal fervor." Red, Blue, and now Pink! More encouraging news in the Post for Democrats and midterm elections. "States that were once reliably red are turning pink. Some are no longer red but a sort of powder blue. In fact, a solid majority of residents in states that President Bush carried in 2004 now disapprove of the job he is doing as president. Views of the GOP have also soured in those Republican red states."

No one talks about the Dead and Injured * Amichai on War Let the pundits argue about the very unusual situation--what made the retired general come out with scathing criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld. Richard Holbrooke's op-ed piece in the Post made me think of the soldiers who are out there. So far in April 44 soldiers have died in Iraq; 31 of them in their 20's and three under 20. "These generals are not newly minted doves or covert Democrats. (In fact, one of the main reasons this public explosion did not happen earlier was probably concern by the generals that they would seem to be taking sides in domestic politics.)" Background details in Newsweek, "Anatomy of a Revolt".Names of soldiers who died in the first 15 days of April. 3 names have not yet been released by the DOD. The total now stands at 2375. Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties.Darrell P. Clay, 34, Army Staff Sergeant, Apr 01, 2006Israel Devora Garcia, 23, Army Sergeant, Apr 01, 2006Michael L. Hartwick, 37, Army Chief Warrant Officer (CW3), Apr 01, 2006Timothy J. Moshier, 25, Army Captain, Apr 01, 2006Jeremy W. Ehle, 19, Army Private 1st Class, Apr 02, 2006Andres Aguilar Jr., 21, Marine Corporal, Apr 02, 2006David A. Bass, 20, Marine Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Patrick J. Gallagher, 27, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Kun Y. Kim, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Eric A. McIntosh, 29, Marine Staff Sergeant, Apr 02, 2006Eric A. Palmisano, 27, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Scott J. Procopio, 20, Marine Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Felipe D. Sandoval-Flores, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Brian R. St. Germain, 22, Marine Corporal, Apr 02, 2006Abraham G. Twitchell, 28, Marine Staff Sergeant, Apr 02, 2006Geovani Padillaaleman, 20, Navy Hospitalman, Apr 02, 2006Ty J. Johnson, 28, Army Specialist, Apr 04, 2006Dustin J. Harris, 21, Army Specialist, Apr 06, 2006Daniel L. Sesker, 22, Army National Guard Specialist, Apr 06, 2006Chase A. Edwards, 19, Marine Private 1st Class, Apr 06, 2006Bryan N. Taylor, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 06, 2006Richard P. Waller, 22, Marine Corporal, Apr 07, 2006Shawn R. Creighton, 21, Army Specialist, Apr 08, 2006Jody W. Missildine, 19, Army Private, Apr 08, 2006Philip John Martini, 24, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 08, 2006Juana NavarroArellano, 24, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 08, 2006David S. Collins, 24, Army Specialist, Apr 09, 2006Joseph I. Love-Fowler, 22, Army Private 1st Class, Apr 09, 2006Gregory S. Rogers, 42, Army Sergeant 1st Class, Apr 09, 2006James W. "Will" Gardner, 22, Army Specialist, Apr 10, 2006Randall L. Lamberson, 36, Army Sergeant 1st Class, Apr 10, 2006Joseph A. Blanco, 25, Army Corporal, Apr 11, 2006James F. Costello III, 27, Army Private 1st Class, Apr 11, 2006Kenneth D. Hess, 26, Army Specialist, Apr 11, 2006George R. Roehl Jr., 21, Army Private 1st Class, Apr 11, 2006Scott M. Bandhold, 37, Army Specialist, Apr 12, 2006Roland E. Calderon-Ascencio, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Apr 12, 2006Marcus S. Glimpse, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 12, 2006Andrew K. Waits, 23, Army Specialist, Apr 13, 2006Salem Bachar, 20, Marine Corporal, Apr 13, 2006Stephen Joseph Perez, 22, Marine Lance Corporal, Apr 13, 2006*"A POEM THAT I WROTE IN A HIGH FEVER" by Yehuda AmichaiYou who are lengthening your liveswith the best doctors and best medicinesremember those who are shortening their liveswith the warthat you in your long lives are notpreventing.You who are again screwingthe younger generationsand winking at each otherthe winking of your eyelidsis like chill of the swinging shuttersin an empty house.---Translated from Hebrew by Leon Wieseltier Comments Atlantic Review — 2006-04-16 Thanks for paying Marla Ruzicka a tribute last year. Today is the anniversary of her tragic death. To keep her memory alive, we posted this in the Atlantic Review: Marla Ruzicka: Civilian Victims of War. She did advance U.S. interests considerably:Marla: Reconciliation. Thanks.

Primal ScreamThere must be legions of bloggers who read David Finkel's article about Maryscott O'Connor in the Post and understood exactly what made her tick. Not all bloggers on the left use expletives but we share her visceral antipathy toward Bush and the Republicans. "Out there, awaiting her building fury: the Angry Left, where O'Connor's reputation is as one of the angriest of all. "One long, sustained scream" is how she describes the writing she does for various Web logs, as she wonders what she should scream about this day."The Generals Speak OutThe rumble against Donald Rumsfeld turning into thunder and lightning. The mounting criticism by retired generals--now there are six of them--of Secretary Rumsfeld's handling of the war is causing waves. The president issued a statement expressing strong support for the secretary. "In an unusual statement issued from Camp David, where he had already retired for the weekend, Bush stepped directly into the debate over Rumsfeld's performance to offer his "strong support" and make it clear he would keep the embattled defense secretary. Rumsfeld separately declared that he would not go." What else could he do? To remove Rumsfeld because of things gone awry in Iraq would be an admission of his own failure. It will be interesting to see whether the president would be able to put a lid on this.Senator Chafee Facing Long KnivesRepublican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is facing the ire of his party. What did he do? He opposed the war against Iraq,domestic wire tapping,and confirmation of Justice Alito. Deadly sins. "Chafee, 53, once could count on voters in Rhode Island to tolerate his maverick ways, but this time the response was blank stares. "Nobody listened to my reasoning," Chafee recounted as he piled hay into a wheelbarrow. "They support the president on everything."

In his novel Holy Week, Louis Aragon narrated fateful days in the history of France. In the introduction,translator Haakon Chevalier wrote: "Holy Week in the year 1815. March 19th to 25th. Seven days. Easter week, that year, occurring just at the point when winter turns into spring. . . . It is a time of upheaval, a time of decision. One of those moments of history when irrevocable choices must be made--"a tide in the affairs of men," as Shakespeare says, "which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries . . ." Holy Week 2006 is coming to an end. As I went past the local Catholic church on my run yesterday evening the faithful were driving in to attend Maundy Thursday service. It is an uneasy time for people in many parts of the word. Violence raging in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Here in America there are many families grieving for soldiers who have lost their lives; others live in constant anxiety over those who are serving in war zones. There is a shadow of fear about what might happen if an accord cannot be reached with Iran about its nuclear program. As usual, super powers are flexing their muscles and not always for a just cause. It is the ordinary people who suffer most in such strifes. How is the world going to be a year hence---a place in which people live without fear or full of turmoil as it is now ?It has been a tradition for me to join a group of friends for a long hike on Easter Sunday. After that we return to JHL's place in Palo Alto for lunch. For us in the San Francisco Bay area, it is an unusual spring. The forecast is for rain on Sunday. We shall probably have to forego the pleasure of the walk. There will be talk about family members who are absent,about friends,and the state of the world. All of us will think about peace just like millions of others who will attend Easter service in a place of worship.* Holy Week ©1961 BY G. P. Putnam's Sons and Hamish Hamilton Ltd. Originally published in France under the title La Semaine Sainte. ©1958 by Librairie Gallimard. Translated by Haakon Chevalier