July 14, 2005

This speech was sent to me by my friend Craig Neal, of Heartland, Inc.

Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech June 12, 2005 ~ Stanford Grad's

Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. more...(pdf)

July 13, 2005

by John R. MacArthur Ê

My first thought when I heard the news of the bombings in London, which included blowing up a double-decker bus, was of the upper-level bus ride I recently took with my kids along Oxford Street before attending the Mary Poppins matinee; the second was about George Bush's childish dare of "bring 'em on" to Arabs who didn't like the American-British invasion of Iraq.

Well, it looks as though al-Qaida brought it on last Thursday, and there's no real-life nanny to say "spit spot" and clean up the bloody mess spawned by Boy George's 1001 Arabian fantasies. I wonder how Tony Blair feels about the Anglo-American "special relationship" now that his imperial capital has been shaken, literally at its core, by people mainly angry at the U.S.A.

The British prime minister seems a bright man, if a deeply cynical one, and I suspect that underneath the TV bluster about "resolve," "resilience," and "stoicism," he is reconsidering his commitment to the cretinous and self-defeating policies of the current administration in Washington. If he isn't, he's a fool. Since the Madrid train-station bombing, the Spanish government is doing very nicely out of Iraq, able to concentrate its efforts more constructively on rounding up the killers who committed the crime, instead of safeguarding "democracy" in the Green Zone. more...

July 12, 2005

A push for universal health coverage is being rekindled in some states by the soaring cost of health care and the lack of political support in Washington for federal changes.

Advocates of a single-payer system ÷ where the government would collect taxes and cover everyone, similar to programs in Canada and across Europe ÷ have introduced bills in at least 18 state legislatures. Some are symbolic gestures, but heated debate is taking place in California and Vermont. more...

July 11, 2005

July 10, 2005

It's Here! Newsweek Does Nail Rove

The Newsweek story I described below is out. Reporter Michael Isikoff has obtained a copy of an email that Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper sent his bureau chief, Michael Duffy, on July 11, 2003--three days before conservative columnist Bob Novak first published the leak that outed CIA officer Valerie Wilson/Plame. In that email, Cooper wrote that he had spoken to Rove on "double super secret background" and that Rove had told him that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's "wife...apparently works at the agency on wmd issues." "Agency" means CIA. Read the full Newsweek piece here, and read my item below on why it is so important. There now is clear-cut evidence that Rove was involved in--if not the chief architect of--the actions that led to the outing of Plame/Wilson. If he's not in severe legal trouble, he ought to be in political peril. I explain in full the ramifications of this smoking email below. From more...

July 14, 2005


July 13, 2005


July 12, 2005


July 11, 2005

Archives

No War in Iraq march.

Klezmatics

On April 3, 2005, Barbara and I went to see the Klezmatics, with guest Joshua Nelson, Jewish gospel singer. To quote the concert program, "Their soul-stirring Jewish roots music recreates klezmer in arrangements and compostions that combine Jewish identity and mysticism with a contemporary zeitgeist and a postmodern aesthetic. Since their founding in New York City's East Village in 1986, the Klezmatics have celebrated the ecstatic nature of Yiddish music with works by turn wild, spiritual, provocative, reflective and danceable." The concert was phenomenal.

Campus Bay

The main health concerns include:
That the soil is so toxic that future residents would be exposed in the long term with unknown health effects due to gases from volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and direct exposure to toxic soils. They would almost certainly not be informed about the site history or any potential health threats. The developers idea of mitigation, by the way, includes fans inside the high rises to prevent buildup of VOCs where residents live (!!!!!).

Additional concerns:
Many organizations have additional concerns including the visual impact of the high rises on adjacent neighorhoods, visual impact on the coastal zone, proper clean up and restoration of the site in general and the marsh in particular which is critical habitat for many species including the endangered Clapper Rail etc.

A few additional Photos (Most of these photos are not edited or corrected in Photoshop). <

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This site consists of original photographs and composites by Fletcher Oakes, unless otherwise credited.