He lives in a pineapple under the sea

Took the grand kid to the airport this morning for his flight back to St. Louis, home. Four weeks or a little less that the five year old has been staying here. Sponge Bob Square Pants will be in my mind for weeks. Maddox, aka Maddy, Madoo, Madman, Mahouligan, babe.

Master Maddox is on a year around school plan so he doesn't get one long summer vacation, just four quarterly short breaks. I actually turned the channel to Sponge Bob just now to see what's up since the regular fair is so bad. Squidward was making a bet with Sponge Bob that he couldn't go a whole day without crying. And the Wii has gone back too, we had made it up to the first level of the V session in the D.R.I.V.E. lessons. Yes, that's a Sponge Bob product too. The infectious little tune will be rolling around my brain for weeks as well.

We built a sailboat (and sailed it), climbed a hill, swung the swing, watched a train, explored a sunken boat, sat in the hot tub, rode bikes, got the mail, looked at a frog, cleaned the pool filter, ate breakfast, and sometimes did absolutely nothing at all. In the words of Madoo, "Grandpa Jim and I are really good at doing nothing".

Want to keep lively? Give a 5 year old a hose with a sprayer. See you in June.

The most dangerous man in America

Saw this movie last night. For those that don't know, it's a documentary about Daniel Ellseberg and the events surrounding what were known as the Pentagon Papers. These were top secret documents released by Ellsberg in 1971 as part of his opposition to the Vietnam War. I must say that my memories of this period lean more towards being away from home for the first time, college freshman, and my only thought about the war was related to making sure I wouldn't be participating.

The Pentagon Papers were a secret study commissioned by the government that detailed the deliberate increase in military commitment to Vietnam at a time when the government was saying that the plan was to reduce the U.S. presence. Today the fact that the government was lying doesn't sound like big news but I guess those were gentler times. I, like a lot of people today, immediately assume our government is lying or at least covering up the truth on a regular basis.

It's an interesting and at times entertaining movie. I suppose Ellsberg should be proud to be on the list of people that irritated President Nixon enough to be termed an S.O.B on tape. There does seem to be some revisionist history going on though. The film makes it seem like Ellsberg was pretty much responsible for bringing down Nixon. Watergate gets only a brief mention and that only because the "plumbers" were also responsible for breaking into Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office and stealing his files. I think a more balanced view would be to give Ellsberg credit for great courage in exposing the government's duplicity and credit him with being a major force in Nixon's downfall but he was definitely not the whole show.

The venue for the film was the Marines Memorial Club in the City. Ellsberg and former Representative Pete McCloskey were present and there was a brief discussion after the movie moderated by Robert Rosenthal. McCloskey was notable at the time for his opposition to the war and he was one of several congress members that Ellsberg had tried to give the papers to before going to the New York Times. The Times started publishing but was stopped by government injunction. The Washington Post then took up the publication until they were stopped. In all, it took 14 newspapers to get the complete 7,000 pages published as each one was shutdown by the government. The venue played an interesting role, Ellsberg and McCloskey had been Marines before their later careers. The M.C., a retired Marine general, recognizing the military sponsorship, cast the discussion in terms of their military experience. Ellsberg mentioned the inherent conflict between his Marine training of following orders and his sworn oath to protect the constitution. I was surprised to hear how well accepted was doing the right thing despite the fact that it was against the current government policy. Maybe Marines can be people too.

I wonder if we could have an Ellsberg today or do we even need one? We are lacking any strong newspapers (or media of any type) that would be willing to stand up against the government to protect the truth. The internet media that has replaced the traditional system is only interested in the sensationalism that generates click through revenue. Our world today is full of leaks engineered for political gain and no one really pays that much attention. And we are all so used to government lying that there would be no great reaction if more is revealed. That's the thing about the Pentagon Papers, although most didn't read them or even know the details, it was a major shock to the society that our government carried on a purposeful deception over the course of four presidents. We carry that legacy forward today in our distrust of all politicians and government pronouncements. At least I do.

Walnut Creek Budget

My home town, like many communities around the country is having budget problems. Walnut Creek, California is a generally an affluent community but the reduction in property tax revenue due to lower house prices has had an impact. Property and sales taxes together make up more than half of the city income. Of the sales taxes a majority comes from vehicle sales that are also down this year.

So the city has been crying poor and talking about layoffs and reduced services and higher fees. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your views, the city has also committed to building a $35 million library which isn't helping. So I've been looking through the budget proposed and adopted for the next two years. And I've looked at some other local city's budgets too. Concentrating on my town, since they are nice enough to put the whole thing on their web site, I am struck by one thing. Why is it that the police personnel budget went up $5 million when the number of officers has remained the same? That's about a 15% increase.

Check out the details. Looking at the police department table A we see that the "personnel services" went from $33.175M in 2006-2008 to $38.975M for 2008-2010. Scroll down to the next chart and you see the staffing level has remained the same at 119 FTE.

That $5M would certainly come in handy in some other departments. The posted budget documents do not break out this increase. But one may suppose it's salary and benefits. These days police salaries and benefits are all set by collective bargaining agreements. I would say these unions are doing well for their members. And these unions have made police compensation off limits to budget cutting efforts. A concerted public relations campaign emphasizing the dangers of police work and other scare tactics keep city officials at bay. A steady diet of lawsuits keeps the unions on top.

Valuable as the police may be, I think it's time they became part of the real world. I haven't gotten any 15% raises in a long while and I don't see why they should either. Sorry guys, but the party has got to be over.

Grass Bombs

Here in northern California we are just about to reach the peak of the season. I mean the season for the local Grass Bomb. It takes our clay soil most of the winter for the water to soak into the root zone. The grass seeds that have waited all fall and winter are bursting out. The roots need to grow out enough to be able to grab a great ball of wet clay. The warming weather drives the grass to grow tall and strong. It's time.

Go up on a local hill, if the path is too wet and slippery, then go around the south side or higher up. Take a big handful of grass and pull. If it pulls out with no dirt attached, then you are in a too dry area, look around for more moisture. If it pulls out a big clump of dirt with your perfect grass handle, you've got it, the grass bomb. Throw it at somebody.

That's how I grew up. In fact one of your scout leaders took us out on the perfect day and we had a glorious fight. Usually we just did it amongst our kid crowd. If you are uphill from your opponents it's easy to sling massive bombs down onto their heads. From the downhill side, grab a bomb and run up as fast as you can and smack it down on that guy's head.

Better do it this weekend, things dry out really fast. Then the grass starts to brown and the stickers start to stick and well, it's summer before you even know it.

My Favorite Animal

Last year while on safari, we had my 5 year old grandson along. For some reason everyone we me asked him two questions: how old are you, and what's your favorite animal? The first question was easily answered since kids are asked that constantly from a very early age. He had trouble with the second, I think he never understood why there should be a favorite animal, aren't they all pretty neat?

I have a favorite animal and it's pictured here. The buffalo, or cape buffalo to westerners. They are well know as extremely dangerous to the hunter, and I respect that. An animal should be dangerous to anything that is trying to kill it.

In the herd these guys are mostly docile. On one occasion our guide drove us right into the middle of a large herd of buffalo that were grazing along the river. It was quite a treat to be surrounded by these huge things all of which were tearing off huge mouthfuls of grass. The sound alone was impressive. The guide told us we were safe because in the herd the buffalo feels secure.

Another day we came across two large males off by themselves in the bush. The guide stopped our jeep a long way off so we could observe. They weren't doing much but the guide let use know this was a potentially dangerous situation and he wasn't getting any closer. The older males like this can get kicked out of the herd at some point and become loners or as in this case pair up with another.

Buffalo in this situation are anything but secure. Without the herd to protect them they are vulnerable to attack from lions or even an ambitious leopard. This puts them in a bad mood and they can charge at most anything with the slightest provocation. These big ones with their magnificent horns are the ones most targeted by hunters. A wounded buffalo will typically run away and then hide waiting for a chance to ambush the hunters. I applaud the buffalo for this, we've got plenty of hunters and maybe less game all the time.

For only $12,500 you too can kill one of these beasts. But I suggest you don't, let them live to impress us with their strength and cunning.

She's off

About now my daughter is sleeping over in Joburg on her way to Madagascar. Took her to the airport Saturday morning for the first flight to Washington DC. United, easy checkin and into the security line almost before I had a goodbye hug. She was tearing up and so was I. What was I going to do now? Last one out of the nest and so far away. Thankfully her bag got ripped en route so my wife could do one last mommy thing and arrange for a cousin to meet her and buy a new bag. Did you know that Walmart can be open until midnight even on Sunday? I got to help over the phone to buy a new recharger for the camera battery that had been misplaced.

On the way home from SFO the clouds were breaking up and our bay was bathed in brilliant sunlight. An Evergreen lines container ship was under the bridge heading out for points east. On Angel island a couple white buildings were peaking out between the trees, bright bright bright. Alcatraz even looked like brand new.

I drove home in a daze. Sure the world can be a glorious place but what was I to do in it? Mulling all this over in my mind as I navigated on auto pilot. Drove right past our exit.