Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Flotsam and Jetsam



The Coronado Bridge meets Coronado...




...right after it takes a hard right turn.



Navy Seals on a morning training exercise. Their base is nearby. One day I saw a boat pull over to shore to pick up a pizza delivery.



On the beach. Mexico is due south and not very far.



Nature's creations.



Coronado dunes.



Monday, October 26, 2009

On and Off the Water



One of the Dole Banana ships in port. Each year, half a million tons of fruit enter the Port of San Diego. My observation is that one ship a week leaves for the trip back to Central America - each Tuesday evening.



Heading back into the Naval Base.



On the Cabrillo, the ferry between Coronado and San Diego.



The U.S.S. Midway - now a museum.



The Santa Fe passenger depot downtown.



Looking up.



The U.S.S. Makin Island coming into port.

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Foggy Day by the Bay



The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Carl Sandburg



A recent foggy morning settled thickly on San Diego Bay.



Though a few hardy souls didn't seem to mind.



"Any fish bite you got good bait"



Waiting on a sunny day.



The Coronado Bridge is there somewhere.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

San Diego Bay From Coronado Island



The Coronado Bridge, looking South.



They call San Diego America's Best City. Hard to disagree with that assessment from my perspective. Beautiful weather, the Bay, the Ocean, the food. If the Chargers and the Padres got better, who knows - it just might be heaven. I first came to Coronado many years ago and have loved it ever since. I never tire of the view of downtown across the bay.



Lots of sailboats were out on Saturday afternoon.



Making the turn around a buoy.



Not true blue here, but I like the effect.



Sailing away.



The ferry from Coronado to downtown.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo



There are plenty of strange and bizarre things in the California desert. I've lived here for nearly six years and have only scratched its surface.



Cabot's Pueblo Museum is certainly one of them.



It is the work of one rugged and undoubtedly eccentric individual - Cabot Yerxa, who built it, piece by piece, over a period of years in the town of Desert Hot Springs.



Today the property is a museum.



It is protected by great spirits.



The museum's website states: "In 1939 Cabot began the construction of a dream. It was his intention to build a monument to the Indian people he so admired. Without modern equipment he began the construction of what he came to call Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo. With only a pick and a shovel he carved the first room out of the hillside. It was little more than a cave to protect him as he continued with the rambling structure, sans blueprints.

Every portion of the overwhelming building incorporated the Indian's philosophy of life. Since the Indians believe that symmetry retains evil spirits, nothing is symmetrical in the Pueblo. Doorways and floors slant, walls are slightly uneven, and the window form a puzzle of multi-shaped glass. The walls, measuring nine to ten feet in some places were designed to ensure warmth in winter and maintain cool temperatures during the summer months."



It is certainly well worth a visit.



Walking the grounds, one must suspend belief at times.





Looking back at Mr. Yerxa's view of Mt. San Jacinto.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tales of Republican Hypocrisy - Today's Edition

Really, I could do this everyday - this one simply speaks for itself.

30 Sep 2009 -
NEW ORLEANS — A Washington-based public watchdog group said Tuesday it has asked a Louisiana state agency that reviews lawyer conduct to investigate allegations that U.S. Sen. David Vitter solicited prostitutes.



The bar complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) arises from the Republican's admission of a "serious sin" in 2007 after his phone number appeared in records of a Washington prostitution ring. At the time Vitter stated “This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible.”

Vitter, an attorney, has refused to discuss details or answer questions about the matter. He has denied subsequent allegations of involvement with prostitutes in New Orleans.

A Vitter spokesman accused CREW of trying to shift attention away from Democratic ties to the community organizing group ACORN, and did not address the group's allegations of misconduct by Vitter.

CREW, a nonprofit group with a history of complaints against both parties, notes in its news release that Vitter is among a host of Republicans calling for criminal investigations of ACORN and an end to government funding for its programs. Republican criticisms of the group were energized after employees at some ACORN offices were recorded recently apparently giving advice to a woman posing as a prostitute and to a man posing as her pimp about cheating on taxes and operating a brothel.

"Vitter Seeks Investigation of ACORN for Assisting Fake Prostitution Ring; CREW Seeks Investigation of Vitter for Role in Real Prostitution Ring," reads the headline on the CREW news release.

If I were Vitter, I would be afraid, very afraid. When asked in 2000 about the strains a political career can have on a marriage, his wife said “I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary...If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

Perhaps such an unforeseen occurrence has already happened to the Senator? His attacks on Acorn might be overcompensation?


Thursday, September 17, 2009

Tales of Republican Hypocrisy - Today's Edition

This is a new periodic feature I'm adding to my blog to highlight the bald hypocrisy that has become a mainstay of the modern Republican Party and soured our national debate. I could probably add a new one every day, but that would probably bore me to death. Personally, I would be quite content to round of the whole bunch of liars, thieves, hypocrites, birthers, racists, and other right-wing scoundrels and send them all to Texas. Then build a very big wall around the place and let them do whatever they want in the name of freedom on their side of the wall.


Today's right-wing nutcase - Rep. Kevin Brady, T-Texas. See my point?

Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington to protest big government are unhappy with the level of service provided by DC's government subsidized subway system (already the irony becomes so appealing).

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally - which took place to protest government spending and expanded government services! So, they were unhappy that they didn't get what they don't want. Seems simple to me.

“These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote (Congressman, do you know what you are saying here? Do you at least see the - well, irony?) Guess not. He went on “these participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”

Brady wrote on Twitter “METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March! More stories. People couldn’t get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers from Metro.”

Brady said in his letter to Metro that overcrowding forced an 80-year-old woman and elderly veterans in wheelchairs to pay for cabs (not run by the government, Congressman).

How has this champion of public transportation services voted in the past, you might ask? Surely he voted "yes" on the 2009 stimulus bill, which provided some millions for the DC Metro?

He voted "no."

In July, a Transportation and HUD appropriations bill, came up for a vote. It included $150 million for emergency maintenance funding for the DC Metro. Can you possibly guess how Rep. Brady voted? Need we look at his past votes on such matters?

Congressman, I'd give you the Worst person in the World award, but Keith Olbermann already has that honor. But by any measure of sanity and reason, you are a stupid, wretched hypocrite!