So the four day commercial that was the DNC is now over. Wasn't at there some point a contest for the nomination at these things? Seems to me it was more interesting when the convention served a purpose and was not simply ritualistic. Ritualistic politics remind me of monarchy & empire, not democracy. The PBS commentators spent a lot of time talking about how what we've been listening too all week could have been a Republican platform. They meant it as if it was a good thing, but I thought it was kind of sad. Like everyone admits that ideas -- as opposed to ideology -- have no place in politics. This was a convention designed for tiny swinging minority, rather than the rest of us who are shocked and appalled, or steadfast in our support of Bush.

So this is what I have to say about John Kerry. I actually saw him speak about a month ago, and my impression was cemented then.

John Kerry reminds me of a very very well paid undertaker. He will basically say what it takes to get into office, and we shouldn't hold that against him, because it simply means he knows the formula for success. He is no Bill Clinton. Like Bush, he was born to a life of privilege, and it's obvious to everyone.

But I think he did a decent job speaking last night as presenting himself as an OK member of the elite -- one with real accomplishments under his belt, who we might look up to, even if he is from a class that makes him fundamentally unrelatable. It worked for FDR, after all.

Oh, and for all you fans of "The Office." Did you notice what song they used to introduce Teresa Heinz-Kerry the other night? "Simply the Best." I was laughing out loud, thinking of David Brent's motivational seminar.

Damn, wasn't Clinton good last night? After watching Hillary kind of blunder her way through the introduction (she made 9/11 sound like a tax event or something), I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd vote for her as president just to see him in the White House again. It's funny, because four years ago, I didn't think Clinton had been a very effective president. I thought he was too moderate, and had squandered opportunities to effect real change, and that his embracing of parts of the Republican platform had left Democrats with a hollow moral center. But shit, after four years of Bush he sure looked good last night.

So the case I was eventually disqualified for as a juror has begun. It looks like an interesting case, considering it's in civil court, but I knew who the defendant was. As I was sitting in court filling out the questionnaire, it was really obvious to me that I could either fill it out in such a way to have a shot at the case or not, and the fact that it was a high profile case did tempt me to temper my answers toward acceptability. What a crock. You know the old Seinfeld joke about juries: How can you trust your fate to 12 people who are too dumb to get out of jury duty.

Damn, this post reminds me of something Nick would say.

Why can't we admit that there is too much music out there? There really is. The phonograph was a nice invetion, for a few years, but now I think this whole idea of pre-recorded music has gotten out of hand. Whether your waiting on hold, stuck in an elevator, or sitting down for a cup of joe, someone else's crappy idea of listenable music always seems to be boring away, eroding whatever last shred of tolerance you might have ever had for "You can't always get what you want." So I'm glad to hear that greedy publishers are making it harder to listen to. I hope they get rid of music altogether at dentist's offices, bus stations, shopping malls, and wherever else I've been forced to listen to this crap.

Bring me slience.

Got a link to these two stories in "Good Morning Silicon Valley" today. Damn. This can't be good for Army recruiting. So, you go Five days without a meal and then you get to eat this?

Food scientists working for the US military have developed a dried food ration that troops can hydrate by adding the filthiest of muddy swamp water or even peeing on it...

This is the same organisation that created the "indestructible sandwich" that will stay fresh for three years

There's no life like it, and it ain't for me.

Big debate going on at work. Does Karaab's former gym make an appearance in Farenheit 9/11?

Sorry if they're boring, but I never get tired of these Schwarzenegger press releases.

Here's one on the death of the founder of Gold's Gym. The body is 356 words long.


Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Death of Joe Gold of World's Gym
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the death of Joe Gold, founder of Gold's Gym and World's Gym:
"I am deeply saddened to learn of Joe Gold's death. Joe was a trusted friend and father figure and was instrumental in my training during my days as a bodybuilder. Gold's Gym was not only a training facility but it became a home to me. Joe was an inspiration to many and his death is felt deeply in the entire health and fitness community.
"In 1968 when I came to America, Gold's Gym was the gym where I first went to work out. Joe looked after me and encouraged me, and his dry sense of humor was a daily feature of the gym.
"Joe Gold was a bodybuilding legend, a pioneer, but above all, deep in his heart, he was a bodybuilding fan. The world will be the poorer for his loss. I will miss him as a dear friend of 36 years."
Born in Los Angeles in 1922, Joe Gold was a true bodybuilder whose love of the sport led him to create the modern gym chain operation, which included Gold's Gym and World's Gym. Gold joined the Navy during World War II and was injured during the Battle of Leyte, which took place in the Philippines in 1944. After the war, he joined the merchant marines and sailed around the world for the next 30 years. With every voyage he took a set of weights with him and built a great physique. In 1965, he opened the first Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, welding most of the equipment himself and designing unique machines that were beneficial to the serious competitive bodybuilder. He called it "the first gym made specifically for bodybuilders." Joe sold Gold's Gym in 1970 and resumed his career as a merchant marine. In 1977 Joe decided to open a new gym and so World's Gym was established. Today it is a global franchise, famous throughout the world, and even toward the end of his life, Joe could still be found at the front desk of the Marina Del Rey headquarters.
###



Here's one on the death of two marines in Iraq. They merited 150 words.

Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on Deaths of Twentynine Palms Marines
Governor Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the deaths of Lance Cpl. Michael S. Torres of El Paso, TX, and Lance Cpl. John J. Vangyzen of Bristol, MA, who were stationed at Twentynine Palms, CA:
"Today, Californians mourn the loss of two Marines who served with honor, dignity and resolute spirit. We are deeply grateful for Lance Cpl. Torres' and Lance Cpl. Vangyzen's selfless service to our country, and their courage will not be forgotten. The family and friends of these two brave Marines will be in our prayers."
Lance Cpl. Torres and Lance Cpl. Vangyzen, both 21, died July 5 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. They were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Twentynine Palms, Ca.
In honor of Lance Cpl. Torres and Lance Cpl. Vangyzen, Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff.

Didn't realize that Hooters had its own airline. Or that people were so into it. Now there's $5,000 well spent.

Saddam behind Hanson craze too.

Should journalists co-author books with their sources? Maybe not. Maybe it's a conflict of interest, and maybe it's a little bit harder to write articles that discredit the theories of your co-author. I don't know how I really stand on this, but I thought the following connection was interesting.

So there's this woman, Laurie Mylroie, who believes that Saddam was, among other things, behind the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the TWA 800 flight crash in 1996.

In 2000, Mylroie wrote a book called Study of Revenge: Saddam Hussein's Unfinished War Against America, which included many of the arguments later used by the Bush Administration to go to war in Iraq.

Ten years earlier, however, Mylroie co-authored another Saddam book called Crisis in the Gulf, that attempted to cash in on the first Gulf War and explain the situation there at the time.

Last year, she wrote a book about how the CIA was ignoring the Saddam threat and diverting attention from the danger posed by Iraq -- a theory that is in stark contrast with this week's Senate intelligence committee report.

Her co-author in the 1990 book? None other than the New York Times ace reporter Judith Miller.

I can't tell if this new Manchurian Candidate movie is going to be any good. For one thing, it looks like they've dropped the Queen of Diamonds. But a worse problem may be that the idea of a global brainwashing conspiracy is nothing new these days. I really liked the fact that the film had these scary Communists and even scarier corrupt American politicians -- are we going to see another seen like the one where the drunken senator Iselin gets dressed down by his super-bitch wife after doing the limbo dressed as Abraham Lincoln? I doubt it. The trailer kind of reminded me of that horrible Mel Gibson film, Conspiracy Theory. And can Meryl Streep be as evil as Angela Lansbury in the original? Again, I have my doubts. Finally, the film will not work with my soundtrack, and that's a big problem.

What do you think? Is Jonathan Demme up to the job, or are we in for another Ocean's 11?

Green Legs

The juror check-in room at the San Francisco Superior Court is a handsome room, newly remodeled with fat 1990s dollars. It gives you the impression that you're participating in a noble civic enterprise, and not some kangaroo fire drill. The walls are covered with vaguely constitutional scenes, tastefully etched in glass, and there are desks and enough comfortable chairs to accommodate those of us to so pure of heart or unimaginative as to not excuse ourselves from today's activities. And to remind us that the government is merely the nation's biggest business, there is even wireless access, provided for the special juror rate of $9 per day, thanks to a company calling itself Courtroom Connect.

The room has a way of seeming dark and shadowy while at the same time hosting these pockets of uncomfortable brightness. It is very real, and public, and not the type of place I'd want to be if I were bad.

This is where I sit as I write this, in waiting for my first ever day of jury duty.

I'm convinced that I'll never be permitted to sit on a jury because I've been told that lawyers don't like reporters and that a bachelor's degree immediately disqualifies you, and in my heart I feel that, though society might deem me too prejudiced to ever sit on a jury, I'm exactly what our criminal justice system needs most.


This picture was taken last fall while Doug and I were bottling beer -- we called it Genesis Ale -- in honor of our impending babies. The legs in the back are those of a childhood friend of Doug's, who was visiting from Texas at the time. He was here doing some undetermined Green party reconnaissance work for the San Francisco mayoral race, which back in November looked like it could just possibly put a Green candidate -- Matt Gonzalez -- in the most high profile position ever occupied by a member of his party.

I remember talking to him about San Francisco politics and about how the man who eventually would take the election, Gavin Newsome, was in the pocket of the Getty family, which had lent him some of their billions to start a winery and restaurant, and about how and why I was going to vote for Gonzalez.

He reminded me of one of those likeable character actors you see in movies. The one who not only doesn't get the girl, but who was never given a sense of loss or inadequacy by his speedy screenwriters.

Oh look they're playing a video now. In a tiny television way over in the corner of the room that can maybe be seen by a third of the people here.

"Justice requires decisions that affect people's lives," the narrator is saying, between testimony from past jurors. "Many times we don't trust any one politician or expert," the narration says. "Instead we trust in the community to make the right decision."

"I think our system is better than other countries, because we get to go to trial," says one ex-juror.

Damn, this must get tiresome after your third or fourth summons.

Back in November, we all got to talking about Bush and the upcoming election. You, know, what a jackass he is and all of that. Doug's friend told us that there was this explosive Michael Moore film being made that was going to expose the connections between the Bush and Bin Ladin family that he was positive would change the course of the election. It was going to be political dynamite he said. We also talked about Ralph Nader, and he told us what a son of a bitch he had been to campaign for.

"A Michael Moore film. Nobody but the true believers are going to care about this." At that time, I remember being really fed up with the left and its chronic inability to understand how Michael Moore might be seen as an opportunistic complainer to some people. "Nobody is going to give a shit about any Michael Moore film," I thought at the time.

As I write this, the jury check-in film is kind of implying that you might be able to get a date out of this experience. "Many jurors stay in touch afterward," the narrator says.

I think it was around that time, that Doug's friend told us he was gong to run for president. "Uh huh," I remember thinking. This guy is whacked. He's wrong about Michael Moore and he's never going to get the Green party nomination for president.

His name was David Cobb