Radio Parallax

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We are going to take a breather. We did our best to educate and inform people, but the bad guy(s) have triumphed for now. Hopefully not forever.

We are back. More electoral follies of 2024.

We apologize for the technical problems experienced during the last week with our web host. We will work to insure it does not happen again. Thank you for for patience.

A man with dementia superimposed on a sociopathic personality has been nominated by the GOP as their candidate for president. This potential disaster will be the prime topic of the show until election day. He should be in jail for his attempt to overthrow the US government. He should be discredited for the hundreds of thousands of Americans dead from Covid owing to his self-centered mismanagement of the pandemic. Instead he could again become president unless good people stand against him and his cronies. We plan to do all we can to put him in proper perspective.

That is what they call politics. And what is turning out to be possible are things nobody thought were possible even as recently as a decade ago. We will examine this, and strive to discuss more sane topics as we tumble into this election year.

A report on the space-time discontinuity that occupies 40 years of time, and hundreds of miles of space. To this we felt a need to add some real medical topics. And Burning Man, yet another disruption in space-time gets a look. Also, a lot of the usual antics.

Your host left the building for a trip to Southern California which should produce some interesting musings soon, if not today. My all-time favorite peer group was visited and on the way home the formerly largest freshwater late in the USA west of the Mississippi (now re-constituted) was driven to (and through). Expect those peers to elevate the programs of the next few months with tales worth hearing.

Whattya know? We got to 1,000. Hope this collection of favorite moments going back to the very beginning will reach new ears and persistent brains. We liked this collection so much we plan to do more of them soon. And Mr MacMillan is adding the earliest shows long-absent from the site. We expect to get just about every hour up soon, plus extras. Thanks for listening.

If all goes according to plan we will hit our 1,000th edition of Radio Parallax in May. We are probably going to hit the re-set button not long afterwards and take a hiatus. New programs can be expected, but not weekly. Those listening on KDVS may anticipate archival programming over the summer thanks we hope to the efforts of Guy Torici who has secured our shows off the web for broadcasting on terrestrial radio. We are working on this and will advise.

We admit to sloth when it comes to updating these messages. We last did so months ago. And it got to 2023. We will try to do better and plan to stick around till show 1,000. Stay with us won't you?

... does not mean politics won't take an interest in you. So said Pericles. We take a look back at Watergate 50 years on with Jefferson Morely in show 955. His new book Scorpion's Dance, The President, the Spymaster and Watergate is insightful and probes angles not adequately explored to date. A don't miss interview. And an update on the January 6th hearings with Trump expert Steven J. Harper in show 956.

Future show topic. On only about 49 day of the year does your supposed sun sign correspond to where the sun really is on that date. Nobody who thinks he/she is a Libra really is. Same for Scorpio. Most of the time you are really the sign before the one you think you are. For 8 days in the year you are 2 signs ahead. On 18 days (11/30 to 12/17) your birthday makes you one of the 13th sign of the zodiac - Ophiucus. The astrologers have not worked out the personality for you Ophiucoids. Which frankly, is the least of their problems. Stay tuned for more.

We did not see 20 years of radio when we began, but 20 years we have achieved. More to say on that in our 20th year. Stay tuned.

Looking forward to a look at one of those most singular events - the high school reunion - not the skit by the Firesign Theater by the way but rather the host's 50th. Turns out we've been lying about being 39 for years, just like Jack Benny. Expect a few reviews of answers to the question "What have you been doing the past half-century". Plus the always entertaining Mary Roach who will talk up her new book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.

As we head into the next cold and flu and covid season we will continue to produce programs on a semi-regular basis. We thank you for your patience. Not being on terrestrial radio at the moment is a challenge, but we are working on fixing that. Meanwhile check for new shows every week.

It does look bad when the splash page refers to the newly installed Biden presidency. So let us perform a better late than never update and note that we plan to continue produce programming if not weekly then bimonthly through the end of 2021. Stay tuned, as it were.

Joseph Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States January 20th. Donald Trump needs to be impeached and banned from future federal office. We will be on the case in 2021 with expert opinions.

Donald Trump incites an assault on the democratic process and the Congress with lies about a theft of the 2020 election. Luckily for the American experiment with democracy and the world-at-large things went no better than anything else that has ever been directed by the soon-to-be ex-president. And the danger is not yet over.

The two big stories of 2020 - the election and the Covid-19 pandemic are moving in opposite directions. The danger of a stolen or subverted election is fading but the Covid case rate will increase for a while. Radio Parallax will continue over the next few months on a less-than weekly basis. We need to catch out breath, and prepare for what 2021 will bring.

We have updated Trumppandemic.net with new links and key information. Please check it out and share widely. This election and the Covid-19 disaster in America are intertwined stories of how Donald Trump ignored reality and got people killed unnecessarily by strange, distorted politics overroding science, medicine, logic, and common sense. VOTE NOVEMBER 3rd as if your future depends on it, because it does.

We refer you the website we have put up: Trumppandemic.net It is a visual to go with our audio... with just three weeks till the election

As you no doubt have noticed we are in sleep mode. Thanks to all of you who contributed funds. We are taking a break for an indeterminate time, but plan to be back in 2017. It seems we will have plenty to talk about. See you then.

Thank you to all who have contributed via paypal to keeping this program going. We are not doing as well as we might hope, however. So we are going to set a goal of $1,000 in the next 3 weeks. If we make that we will go another month. If we fail we will suspend production, including broadcasting on KZFR until we do reach that number. Please do what you can.

For the first time since 2003 Radio Parallax is not participating in KDVS's annual pledge drive. We are no longer a part of the station. We have placed a pay pal button on our web site to facilitate contributions to us to promote the continued production of this program. If you are a KDVS listener you should consider helping them. If you are a fan of this program you should consider instead contributing to us directly. Thank you. Douglas Everett

Radio Parallax continues. We are sad to leave KDVS, but glad to have the opportunity to seek your direct support for production costs. These have always totaled about $10,000 a year. We never sought to recoup by charging stations. KDVS does have a yearly pledge drive, but the funds we raised (thank you for all that support) always goes to the station alone, not us. We will be linking future shows to sponsorship from Doctors Clinic for Men - where your faithful host spends his time when not producing radio. Feel free to view our website: http://www.sacdc4m.com/ As for right now we need to address the queries from several listeners about the KDVS pledge drive which starts next week. We say, with reservations, that you should support our local radio home for the last 14 years if you are a regular listener. Our reservations come from the fact that despite the station's desperate need for extra funds in the wake of ASUCD cutting financial support the people in charge are determined NOT to make a major effort to gain sponsors nor seek grants. They want to do it all via pledge drives. But they are running the drives very poorly. During the add-on event last fall the core staff neglected to have the usual 3 operators manning the phones. We know of people calling in 9 times during our hour and never reaching an operator. This coming drive appears to show them staffing 2 people, instead of the usual 3. The station has the right to commit financial suicide, of course, but we suggest you pause before contributing this year. Failing to meet their goal - AGAIN - may force the station to take sensible steps to better its finances. Please Do NOT make a contribution in our name. Especially if we were the reason you listened to the station. If you want to help Radio Parallax then please hold those funds which would normally be pledged next week. We are setting up a method by which you can help us directly. Our goal is to raise half of our production costs from you dear listener. Stay tuned.

We plan to air some favored prior programs which will air on KZFR 90.1 FM in Chico (where we have been since 2007). Our enjoyable chat with UCD history Professor Larry Berman about his real-life spy book is slated to go first. After which we will re-visit The Science of Superheroes with author James Kakalios.

We are pleased to be able to again speak with author David Talbot about his work on Deep Politics. His latest, The Devil's Chessboard, includes information that is not in our history books, but should be. We devote the entire hour today to this conversation. In a happy bonus we hope to bring another Talbot onto the program next week. Sister Margaret Talbot has written a wonderful chronicle of their father actor Lyle Talbot. Last night one of Lyle's first films was shown at the Castro theater in San Francisco and all four of the distinguished Talbot progeny were in attendance. We will talk about that on next week's show.

All things must pass. Our time as a local show on KDVS will end next month. Frankly we've extended our Davis run longer than expected. The podcasts will continue into 2016. And we hope we can maintain a presence on KZFR for a while. A lot of our early shows were not aired in Chico so we'd like to broadcast some favorites. We will keep you posted. Hopefully with more alacrity than our usual rate of blog updates.

Support the freedom of the press by coming out Sept 16th. Read Jeff vonKaenel editorial for more info. We will remind you on this weeks show. And we note with sadness that we are planning to turn over the keys two weeks from now for the "Best of Radio Parallax" on KDVS (and KZFR) while planning some original new content. Podcasts will continue, also with fresh material. Graham Smith and Edward MacMillan will be producing this as your longstanding host goes on assingnment this fall.

We are happy to report that we are finding time to keep producing the show despite the summer heat, wildfires and busy, busy schedule. Let's do more.

Owing to a number of circumstances beyond our control (and new obligations) it is apparent that Radio Parallax is going to find it more difficult to provide shows like clockwork every Thursday. As such we think we should plan to end our run in the not-too-distant future starting with our KDVS presence. We hope we can turn it up a notch - much a Dave did - for our final terrestrial broadcasts on the KDVS transmitter. We envision continuing podcasting for a good long while and the ease of broadcasting into Chico means we can go a while longer on KZFR. Please send comments via info@radioparallax.com. This has been fun, and will continue to be fun for a while longer.

Cal Aggie Baseball will take the Parallax this Thursday. So we will concentrate on our OTHER favorite station KZFR. We travel north to Chico in order to speak with GM Rick Anderson about their great community-based facility (with over 120 volunteers - and about the same number of underwriters)which will celebrate 25 years of broadcasting next month.

We are hoping to go north to the fine town of Chico to chat with the hood people at KZFR. We hope in the wake of that to facilitate a visit by KDVS DJs to better weld together these great community radio stations. This is going to be fun.

Your help is needed dear listener. We want you to call in during the 5 o'clock hour tomorrow Thursday April 23rd to demonstrate that a)we are reaching you and b) you care enough to act. It's important we get the needed feedback (and financial support). Please call 530.754.5387 to make a pledge. Thanks. Doug

For the 13th time Radio Parallax doe its part to raise funds for KDVS. Our effort will be put before you Thursday the 23rd. We hope that everyone who listens will do THEIR part to keep our nose above water. Last year we had a dismal turnout. Only $800 for our hour. If we can't make $1,000 this year we may have to hang it up. The station badly needs new equipment and we badly need to see that YOU care enough to help dear listener. In past years we made double that. Times are tough, we know, but that means YOU are more important than ever.

Yeah, I know. We promise to be better about blogging, then neglect to update these notes(sigh). Well doggonnit we have a lot of things keeping us busy: the quilting bees, the charity work at the local disco, the carving of ships to stick inside bottles to sell to tourists, the square dances. It eats up the day. But watch this space. We predict confidently - more frequent contributions. Since the last one was Thanksgiving that should set the bar low ENOUGH to make this a lead pipe cinch. TBC

Given a Thursdays @ 5-6 pm time slot we are sure that once a year our terrestrial broadcasting audience plunges. We can hardly expect that many will choose to augment their turkey slicing holiday with the background sounds of Parallax. But some people will be keeping society functioning on this day, as they do every day, by manning the desk in hospitals, staffing firehouses, keeping gas stations open etc. We salute those doing their duty on a holiday and hope to make the day better this year with an emphasis on comedy bits we've always liked. We are busy making our selections now.

Entertainment influences just about everyone not living in a cave. So we can hardly exclude it from a program in "public affairs". Today we'll look back at our interview with Norman Lloyd, associate of Orson Welles, tennis mate of Charlie Chaplin, director for Alfred Hitchcock (and a working actor still) on the occasion of his 100th birthday! And we talk with voice actor Corey Burton whom we caught up with the tribute for Stan Freberg, legendary lampooner of American culture.

We hope to have more to say about Freberg in the future and note that traveling to Los Angeles for the program has yielded us wonderful chats with author Ray Bradbury, famous radio director Norman Corwin, and Fireside Theater veteran Phil Proctor. Clearly, we should head south more often in 2015.

The interview on today's show is but a portion of a long discussion recorded with Pete McCloskey.

The former Congressman is a singular figure in 20th century American politics. Though a Republican he was a leading anti-war figure in the Congress and a co-author of the Endangered Species Act. In 1972 he openly challenged the incumbent President - Richard Nixon - for the GOP nomination. He managed to get re-elected to Congress despite being in front of the popular opinions of the time.

History has vindicated his stands and we feel privileged to have been afforded the chance to speak with him. Fortunately we have at least another hour of material besides what airs today, and if we are lucky we may be able to speak to the Congressman again. What you hear today, and in future installments only scratches the surface of what episodes we might explore with this remarkable and principled political figure.

KDVS asks for help once a year and the time is upon us. Please consider making a contribution during our annual pledge drive week later this month. In recent years the station has failed to meet its goals and this is creating significant hardships due to the failing of increasingly old equipment. Do what you can, please. More in this later. Doug

Our fits show in the new year will count out at #600. In 2014 we intend to bring you some of the people we have been pursuing for quite a while - and continue talking about topics we think are important.

Show #500 is this Thursday. Holy mackerel. From June 2002 till January 2012.

As Samuel Goldwin once said: ”we've all passed a lot of water since then”. And so we have. Under and sometimes off the bridge.

We are going to spend considerable time in the archives OURSELVES for this one. Finding our favorite moments may he harder then we think. This is inspiring a long overdue website upgrade. Mr MacMillan will add his bio, for example. Some of his facts may actually be true. We fully expect many to be. And we will have more photos as time goes on. We swear.

Stay tuned

Since we believe in going out to experience new things in order to report on them for RP – as a public service of course – part II of surfing lessons took place this month. This time the travel location was Kauai, rather then Costa Rica.

So little time, so may tropical paradises. What is one to do?

At the risk of sounding like a total and utter jerk I would point out that – as a friend's mom once said – it is better to do things than to have things. And the modest cost of a short stay in paradise compares pretty favorably with the cost of a helleva lot of gee-gaws we purchase to keep up with the Joneses here at home.

Criminy, think of the cost of a new car and its clear that a vacation is not all that expensive if one's tastes in accommodation are temperate.

At any rate, we are again hoping to bring a clip of the time spend in tropical climes. In this case my old pal Joe O. was kind enough to trot out his video equipment and record a fair number of attempts at standing up. Given the large volume of material we able to snag a couple of clips demonstrating a respectable amount of time standing vertical vs the waves.

To better appreciate this video we counsel listening to the audio - where we talk about adventures in the land of poi. And yes, no matter what you've heard it tastes great and is highly nutritious. The latter is a fact. The former may be hotly debated - but I'm sticking to my pro-pounded taro root stance, dammit.

We have a new policy at RP. We will add new blog entries every 8 months at minimum, whether the site needs it or not. We are bad, we admit it. But wouldn't you rather we put our energy into making good radio? Sure you would.

Our thanks to those who helped us while the shows host was in South and Central America. We placed three shows in the can before departure and all managed to hit the airways on schedule.

Yours truly reached a milestone of sorts in that upon clearing customs in Bogota, my lifetime country total reached 80. The odds are looking pretty decent that I may make 100 before re-locating into that eco-tourist destination in the sky.

We are hoping to bring some footage shot on location in Colombia. In particular a 90 second clip of passing on the highway. This may not seem like something eventful or worthy of review upon returning home, but chances are you've never been on Colombian roads. The Andes are no place for an interstate such as the main arteries we have come to expect here. In fact, our journey to Cartagena had to be given up because the highway had washed down into the raging river below.

If a picture is worth 1000 words then our clip should be worth about 300,000 words of description. We celebrate the fact that Colombia is now, once again, a country that it is safe to visit. It is not quite ready for prime time however, as a tourist destination. It is rather more Third World than one might expect. For more of description we recommend listening to the show archives.

Oh, Costa Rica was pretty nice too. But then it always is. It is possible to have a crappy time in CR- I know a guy who did it – but this takes a truly exceptional effort, one dependent on a bad attitude. Surfing was attempted with some success. A hint for those longing to learn – do not wait till you are past your 39th birthday to start, or 49th, or worse.

Listen to more about THAT in the archives as well. Eh?

Our thanks to the SN&R's Rachel Leibrock a) for taking an interest in the show b) working hard on an article and c) getting it published.

If by chance you missed it:

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1376574:

We're pleased to get such felicitous ink coupled with Mike Iredale's pix. Rachel went out of her way to observe RP in action including a trip to Insight when I filled in for Jeffrey C., a visit to KDVS, and an excursion to my home studio.

Why I'm "dangerous" remains a head-scratcher. And that sepia cover shot makes me look as if I'd just had a meeting with Dick Cheney where we agreed to waterboard a bunch of guys. Its like me channeling the ghost of Roy Cohn. I hate it, but maybe my sinister visage will move more papers. But I don't get it. Couldn't I have been the most something-else man in radio?

We quote from the SN&R a lot. They do good work. I don't expect attaboys to be reciprocated, but we're grateful that our interest in digging around to find things to chat about is valued, along with how we do it. Quite glad actually.

More later...

When The Bee said hat they were looking for people who'd been to 70 countries I wrote Carlos Alcala, to gain a place on their roster. A was second tier, but was glad to be there. Check out the article:

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/01/24/2480367/around-the-world-many-times-bee.html

For better or worse here's a longer narrative.

In 1988 at the stunning site of Pagan, Burma (a world class attraction too-seldom seen due to the junta's ham-fisted management of tourism) I discovered another stunning attraction. She was 5'2" and I was hit with an anvil the moment I saw her. She had a most engaging personality and lightning wit. Though I was QUITE taken, I had to leave Pagan the same day we met owing to Burma's idiotic visa policies.

But all was not lost. I was headed to India via Bangladesh while she was going to Nepal. I could catch her in Katmandu if I could keep my wits and change my schedule to skip Varnasi.

Arriving in Calcutta my first order of business was to go to Air India and change my ticket.

Calcutta was crazy. I was struck by the fact that tourist hotels all seemed to have "we have generator" signs. The reason became obvious when, upon trying to change my ticket (at an airline offices in the basement of one such hotel) the power went out. While awaiting those generators switching on the paperwork went on by flashlight. In the midst of this tumult I'd asked the agent for the appropriate change. What a scene. I can't speak Hindi, but two Spanish Hare Krishnas were in line and I COULD talk to them in espanol. By the glow of flashlights my papers got filled out. When the lights came back I got handed a ticket. It had been a slow and dark (obviously) process in a stuffy basement room and took two hours, but back in the daylight I was pleased to clutch an early ticket to Nepal.

Alas, this was India. Back at my hotel room, shared with a British lad who was finishing 6 months with Mother Teresa I discovered the agent had written the wrong day. It was for the same date I ALREADY held to fly out of India. I KNEW an all-day battle was now needed. It had seemed too easy.

When I hit Air India's central office the next day I was stunned to see the line. It was 50 people long. Computers were down and nothing moved. I sat at the end of the line dismayed. THEN a guy yelled from across the room that I was cutting-in. He was, in fact, the real end of the line. I did a quick head count. There were 147 people waiting in this first of many lines. A guy next to me who looked as though he came from the area near Burma turned and said: "You didn't know. Stay where you are." I said "Thanks, I think I will." It was kill or be-killed.

For hours I ping-ponged around the cavernous room. Among the blockades to resolution was the fact that the flight I needed was fully booked. Asking everyone I could get eyeball-to-eyeball with if there was not SOME way this simple issue could be resolved I found myself camped out next to the office of a Mr Ram. A lady with the desk closest to his door sat fanning herself saying he should be here "soon". Soon could be soon, and it might not be on the same day. I wasn't going anywhere and stayed parked next to the big electric fan outside his office. But by-God Mr Ram did show after 90 minutes with a man in tow. I leaped up and gave him my spiel making an audition with what I hoped would prove charm. Both men seemed to chuckle at my forceful (and now well-oiled) presentation. Mr Ram was a man of authority. He sized up my story, smiled and said "Mr Banerjee can help you - and he WILL help you!" He directed me to the 2nd floor with a jolly handshake and instructed me to relay my tale to Banerjee. I might finally be getting somewhere I thought but, it so happened, the Communist Party had chosen the giant stairwell to hold a rally in support of some labor action. They sat on the steps chanting and singing. After picking my way past the participants - a long process as the density of bodies in India is a different thing than in America I got to the reception desk.

I asked for Mr Banerjee and was told no such person worked there. I insisted that no less than Mr Ram had directed me. "I'm sorry Sir there is no one here with that name" he maintained. I elected to blow past him in the best Ugly American style to look for myself. I strolled brazenly past work stations reading name tags. Two minutes in I found a thin man with "Banerjee" on his tag. I grabbed his hand and said I was glad to meet him since he could resolve my problem. I had been assured of it. Banerjee assessed my tale. "We have contingencies for such developments" he verified and sent me back to the lady with the fan. She had not been able to help I opined, but Banerjee told me what magic words to say and assured me she'd know what to do. After pointedly muttering "There is NO Mr Banerjee here." to the clerk at the desk - who did flinch - I made my way BACK down. Past boisterous communists waving placards of hammers & sickles I moved back to the fan lady. When I said what I was told to say she smiled, put down the fan and whipped out pieces of paper. She stamped them. Stamping was always good I figured. My lady, now fanless, took me on another journey through headquarters to another woman in a red sari who apparently monopolized the ability to produce real tickets. Red Sari read my papers, looked at the stamps, observed the fan lady and then exercised HER power to produce a piece of paper good for travel on Air India on the flight needed. I had prevailed and it had only taken 6 hours. A quick TKO by Indian standards.

I felt fairly certain that somebody who THOUGHT they were flying to Katmandu was going to remain in Calcutta when the time came to fly, however. I was equally certain that I was NOT going to be that person by virtue of being the first in line at the airport on flight day. I was second, actually. A Dutch kid named Jacob was first; a veteran, I think, of the Indian wars. We signed-on and winged north as hoped. As it turned out we flew in immediately aftermath of a squall that had left the city powerless. Downed lines were everywhere. A panic at the soccer stadium left 40 dead. It was a grim day for Katmandu, but not for everyone as I found my gal that night despite conducting a search in a blacked out district of guest houses and restaurants lit by candles.

And that begins another story. A more colorful and interesting one than this. But one I'm not telling.

World's worst blogger is back! I don't think I am the worst writer of blogs, but I must be near the bottom when it comes to timely updates.

The last update chronicled my visit to NYC. What followed?

Washington DC, then a jaunt to Hawaii, followed by a trip to Siberia.

I know blogs don't need to be bout trips, but to not comment on a visit to the Altai mountains to catch an eclipse must be some kind of blog felony.

So, where was I?

Washington I like. It has a broad open feel to it due in no small part to the space and air of the Capital Mall. I got a tour of the Voice of America's offices and a side trip to Baltimore where I got to go onto an WWII sub. The submarine corps was not for me. I don't know how those boats cruised the high seas. They are not that big. I guess the one plus was in storm you could go down a hundred feet and wait. But man that duty took guts.

Arriving in DC brought one of those moments where you suddenly look out and know precisely where you are. I had been to the station before, in 2004, and upon arrival I was, if not home exactly, back in familiar territory. The Big Apple was, conversely, cold, strange, foreign and not a place I could ever live in. With the nephew working for WNYC though I plan to go back in spring. Stay tuned.

And have you ever been hit with claustrophobia? On board the jet set to wing me home from Baltimore I considered asking the stewardess to allow me to exit the aircraft the moment they closed the doors.

I was in serious pain. The new onset of at least one kidney stone was verfy ill-timed. The pain had begun the night before and was hitting a crescendo I just was not sure I could STAND the flight(s) home.

Luckily, I had adequate analgesia and after chewing down a pill I thought I could actually do it. I did, but I got home through significant misery. I swore never to try that stunt again. Should you ever ponder such an adventure my recommendation is DON'T.

Hawaii is a place I have a soft spot for. It helps that my grandpa was from Kauai and I still have cousins there. I don't know them personally, but I know they are there. That distinctive island accent is one of ones I grew up with. They have to be as fine an archipelago as any on this blue planet. I'd been to Kauai, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island and had always had a hankering to visit Molokai to see the old Hawaii.

And THAT will be be the next installment.

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A buddie from high school came with me. I drove to Marin County and crashed on Michael's couch for a early departure to Maui via Honolulu.

This was visit #6 if you count the two day stay in 1988 which coincided with the stock market crash. Which I do. Crash the stocks and you STILL have a great time just being in the Sandwich Islands. Well, nothing is guaranteed in this world, but if you don't like Hawaii there is something wrong with YOU.

The Lonely Planet, as usual, gave excellent hints about where to go. In the first hour we hit the most beloved store on Maui, which, to my surprise stocked THE best kava kava I have ever had.

Sidebar: the Polynesians learned to grind up a pepper tree root centuries ago. It contains compounds that relax and are mildly intoxicating. And I do mean mildly. The first time I tried it I thought it did zero. It does though. It helps one unwind. It is safe and is the only herbal product I find useful. I've recommended it to patients and gotten good feedback.

A couple I know told a native guy in Vanuatu that they were unimpressed with the kava they were ceremonially served upon arrival. As he was a “king” he instructed minions to serve these guys up “kings kava” from a 100 year old tree.

Shawn swore that his stroll up from the beach after imbibing felt like a rock scramble in Yosemite. As an anesthesiologist he was qualified to judge its effects. He was stunned.

Now the Maui kind was nothing of the sort. It was same mild stuff you can get in the coop in Sacramento, Davis, or Kentfield. It was much more palatable, however thanks to some some Island flavors blended in. I wish I'd bought more.

The West side of the Island was literally unrecognizable. I took the folks there once but could NOT for the life of me locate where we had stayed. The whole lay of the land was altered by a giant new posh development catering to the exclusive sort of clientèle who want to hang out in places that are exclusive.

So, for the sake of these assholes developers have bought up breathtakingly beautiful stretches of beach and shoved high rises up into the sky with fistfuls of stores selling the same crap these jackasses could, and should be buying in Manhatten and Beverly Hills. Not that I hate their guts or anything.

Luckily the water is still nice even if the sea life appears to have taken a huge hit.

For better snorkeling we drove north in day two to encounter a couple of native sons sitting in lounge chairs at roadside holding up greenish material.

“Is that the famous Maui Wowie?” I asked the dudes.

“Dis stuff is a Maiu Owie” replied the larger of the two large men, adding “You smoke dis shit.... you gonna hurt yo'self.”

We had to laugh. And to be friendly my wing man contributed to the local economy. He enjoys the stuff and informed me that it was of decidedly inferior quality to that which he has grown accustomed to in Marin.

I deferred to his expertise.

The snorkeling that followed was good. Very good in fact, though I have seen better. That is not a complaint, however.

A complaint would be as follows. I wanted poi. My portagee grandmother used to have taro root every so often. It was OK, but I really like the pounded stuff. The taro equivalent of mashed potatos. At luaus in previous trips I ate a lot of it.

My inquiries as to where I might be found went nowhere. Costco had it on alternate mornings I was told. But the restaurant called fish and poi seemed a slam dunk. As we were led to our tables I asked; “You DO have poi, right?” I did not expect the “No sir we don't reply” from the seater nor the confirmation from the waiter that they took it off the menu because nobody ordered it.

I was stifling my replies till he added scornfully; “Have you ever tried it?”

“Yes” I replied, “I like it. Its why I came to this restaurant NAMED 'Fish and Poi' which is your name after all” He said he was sorry, but they had not been able to get a sign painter so they could CHANGE the name.

Michael suggested that even if that WAS lame it never pays to give a waiter any sort of hard time.

“I know” I said, “but the numbskull asked me if I'd ever tried it – like I'm the idiot who imagined he could get a foot the restaurant is NAMED after.”

He agreed that was bogus and the food that followed was weak. Pounded taro root would have spruced it up considerable.

On day 3 we struck for the summit of Haleakala an adventure to follow in the next installment...

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As you may or may not know the Hawaiian island chain has formed over 80 million years or so from a long lasting, mysterious “hot spot” under the ocean. This plume of magma has been upwelling since the time of the dinosaurs and created not just the current crop of what we think of as the Hawaiian Islands but the chain of old worn down rocks that stretch thousands of miles to the northeast.

The Pacific Plate has moved northwest relative to the hot spot something deduced as certain only in the past half century.

The Big Island is now over the molten plume but a few million years ago it was Maui that was built up from lava piled upon the sea floor. And the top of the mountain, at 10,000 feet is still a stunner.

I read that the drive to the top is the most abrupt ascent anywhere in the world. I suspect that is not hype. And it is well worth doing.

On a prior trip I arose early enough to catch the sunrise from the top. It was worth doing but I don't think I saw the kind of spectacle that amazed Mark Twain. Even spectacular natural sights have their good days and not-so-good.

Michael split the driving with me. I even let him remain behind the wheel after he puffed away on some local vegetation. In my experience the stoned driver is very unlikely to cause you grief. He or she tends to be hyper-careful in vivid contrast to the drunk. Most of the experience which led me to this generalization is decades old but I could see that it still held up in 2008. He managed fine.

We jogged down for 45 minutes to a lookout point then jogged back up at a much-reduced pace to explore numerous spots to see in the general area. The view of Hawaii to the south was terrific. Mouna Loa and Mouna Kea are a half mile taller still and look magnificent.

If you go to Maui you must do this.

That night there was a festival of canoes from all over the Islands. A couple were even from Tahiti I think. We strolled around in Lahaina and... well you just can't have too bad a time with macadamia nut snacks and fresh fish.

The taro question as in poi was shown to really be, at least in part, due to a shortage on Kauai. It seemed the crop was reduced by drought thus making he formerly ubiquitous taro chips snacks rare. Like poi they were tough to find. Unlike poi we did finally find some – locally made.

And while I'm talking food... I would note that sugar, even that which sweetens soft drinks, should be fricking sugar, not the vile tasting high-fructose corn syrup. Drink a soft drink in Hawaii and you'll remember why you used to like such drinks.

And y'know I have to take a break and go get some Hawaiian barbeque right now – complete with soft drinks.

Be right back.

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Where was I? On Maui?

As good as Maui is, and I am not sure there IS a bad Hawaiian Island (if you don't count former bombing range Kahoolawe, left a mess of unexploded ordinance by the Pentagon) its commercialism left us hankering for the old Hawaii and Molokai was the place that has elected to remain decades “behind” the rest of the place.

The ferry was fun. Michael drank some beer and sat with some serenading locals who pounded out Hawaiian hits. Even from afar you could see that Molokai was virtually devoid of development.

After the Miami Beach nuttiness of the West of Maui this WAS a trip back in time. Our rental car was at the airport and the shuttle man was there to greet us.

Driving west we found the deep darkness unpunctuated by electric lighting to reveal a stunning starry sky. The Southern Cross was plain as day and the heavens just erupted with stars. We pulled over and scanned the heavens for a quarter hour.

Our resort was on the west end and we missed the turnout giving a detour into the development of Mauna Loa which was being shut down. It was eerie seeing hotels that were being put on ice and a theater that was now closed. Turns out it was the only cinema on the island.

Navigating was aided by the stars and looking down from the hill we could guess where the hotel was. We guessed correctly but found the sinage pretty limited and directions too.

A phone call got us right soon enough and we were in for the night.

In the day we could see that MUCH of the hotel complex was being boarded up. Beautiful location, but some squabbling over water and development had led to a golf course that was drying out and restaurants that were closed. The golf I couldn't care less about but Molokai is famous for having few places to eat. That hurt.

We hiked about and swam a good deal.

The high point of the trip was a LONG swim outside some rocks where I felt as though I might swim to Oahu. Of course given the strong current may fear they'll have to. The moist air, balmy water and stunning scenery made for a world class afternoon on our final day. Of course I'm leaving out the trip to the famed leper colony.

On the next-to-last day we hiked down the hillside (having paid for the right to visit) to get a tour of the notorious colony.

Leprosy is considered one of the LEAST infectious of infectious diseases. Most people probably could not get it at all. Some immune deficiency is involved. But after it arrived from Asia some people DID get it and given that it was not controllable until sulfa antibiotics arrived on the scene.

...Ah yes, leaving the Big Apple for the Big Pork Barrel. After 3 days in Gotham I arose ready to skip town. While I entertained the idea of hanging there one more day my roommate's electing to stay in Brooklyn meant I'd likely have a morning to kill. So to hell with it, I reckoned, its off to DC.

By-the-way I neglected to mention that my journey back to Manhattan the night before was complicated by the fact that the sangria ingested in the surprisingly good Mexican restaurant had not been metabolized. So as we strolled towards the subway it was clear that I was train riding under the influence. Despite the former GM at KDVS's cheery "Welcome to my world" it did not seem like a smart plan. After pondering the lack of alternatives, however, it suddenly seemed like an "adventure".

An ADVENTURE. Excellent. And given the simplicity of the directions: get off at the 3rd stop and take the #6 line north to midtown I reckoned "How can I miss". So we said goodbye, I jumped on the train and off we roared. It struck me that I may well be THE ONLY person on the train over 40. The faces were young and hip, just what NYC SHOULD provide. One sweet young thing gripping the pole right in front of me induced a momentary pang of regret at having ridden the earth on so MANY orbits of the sun. Alas, I was slightly relieved when she left at stop #2. I was led not into temptation to attempt even a chat.

At the 3rd stop I exited as planned and set out to find the right northbound train. And wouldn't you know it the signs was not as unambiguous as one might hope. or was it the ethanol still on board? After snaking around I reckoned where I needed to go. Again, the signs were not completely clear so I did what we men too seldom do - but I've learned is essential in foreign locations - I asked for help.

"No, said the local" You want the next track over. I went up and over and decided this was NOT correct. I can't recall why now. Relying on my portagee sense of direction (and in retrospect nothing else I can recall) I returned to location #1, climbed aboard the next train and shot straight to where I wanted to be. As adventures go it was pretty minimalistic, but getting HOME to Manhattan while inebriated is an accomplishment, however minor.

Another beer seemed like a good idea as I got to the hotel so I entered a cigar shop and engaged the man chatting up the man behind the counter in a beret. He was African and highly educated and an amusing fellow. A professor of mathematics it turned out. "Where are you from?" I asked. "Guess" he replied. "I'm going to say Kenya or Uganda". He looked slightly surprised. "Born on Kenya, raised in Uganda" he said. "Not bad" I replied. "No," he said, "not half bad". Especially for a guy half crocked I thought, and headed for slumberland back on the 5th floor.

Anyway, as I started to say - with nobody to play with in the AM I packed with a minor headache and grabbed a cab to Pennsylvania Station. The board for departures there was huge. A throng awaited the track notification for the DC train. Having no idea where that track was I awaited the sudden surge of people that rushed forward as that data came up. Reliance on the herd's motion worked great. Before you know it I was where I needed to be - except I failed to choose to seat on the right (and non-sun side) of the cabin immediately. By the time I caught the mistake it was too late, the seats were filled. It was OK a slept anyway. I awoke in Delaware. The second time in my life I've been in Delaware. The first time I made a point to stop the car and SET foot in the First State. This time my contact with the ground came up through steel wheels. Its OK I was there. I'm counting it.

As we skirted Baltimore I called my high school pal who graciously extended an invite to stay with him. After spending $600 for two hotel rooms on day one in NY THAT was a wonderful offer. A meeting was set up for later and a pick-up at Union Station was arranged with Benjamin, my former producer at Capital Public Radio.

There was a wonderful moment as I wandered to get a bite and looked out the window. The trees and buildings were suddenly familiar. And sure enough the dome of the capital was peering around the corner. I had returned from foreign latitudes. This place I knew. DC felt warmer, both physically and metaphysically and after admiring the restored interior I went out to wait for Benjamin by the flagpole.

He pulled up, I hopped in his Miata and I was officially out of New York Land and back in the world I knew. Familiar faces, locations and, the all-American vehicle: the Japanese car.

And having spilled so much ink just getting there I'm saving our national capital (and a side trip to Baltimore) for installment #3.

...Sad to say we missed our target of $1000 by just 20 bucks. Which in this case would have translated into another $500 bonus. Ouch!

If you did not yet contribute to KDVS please consider doing so between now and midnight Sunday. The station is waayyyy behind this year and could fall far short of our goal of $75,000. As I write Friday PM we are not yet HALF-WAY there!

When it comes to progressive radio in the Sac metro area we are now IT.

If you want to hear voices who are NOT shills, NOT ex-pentagon brass lying for the benefit of the military industry then please help us!

Call 888 654-6294 or go on line to KDVS.org to pledge over the web.

I'll tell the Washington DC tale after this drive is over.

This week marks KDVS's annual pledge drive. The station needs the support of the public to keep things going another year.

We hope that our listeners will vote us their financial support required to keep operating. And it is a vote. One of the most compelling sort. It shows you are willing to help with your hard-earned dollars.

The station and its unique programming needs to raise about $75,000, which is less than $1500 in contributions per week.

Our goal for OUR hour this Thursday is to cover one week of broadcasting.

IF we can raise $1,000 we'll get a matching bonus of $500.

It won't be easy, but if you will help, dear listener, we CAN do it!

The media operates by the golden rule i.e. "he who has the gold makes the rules". As we've learned this week the Pentagon has spent fortune to place "experts" onto TV and radio to spin the harsh facts of Iraq into something the military industry finds more to its liking.

BTW if you have not yet done so you should go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.htm?hp

...right after reading this.

The original is 11 pages long - roughly 7 times the length of the excerpt in the Sunday Bee.

Radio Parallax has identified this "spin" since 2002 as the ramp-up to war began. And we have continued to provide information that is reality-based via interview with the likes of Robert Parry, Michael Parenti, Peter Dale Scott, John Dean, Joe Wilson, Daniel Schorr.

Our fellow public affairs hosts have brought you Amy Goodman, Daniel Ellsberg and Norman Solomon.

We once called the propaganda being fed to the American public as "psyops" - the kind of psychological operations that in the past had been used against the enemy in times of war.

We were right, of course, but it took David Barstow's fine reporting at the New York Times to detail exactly how right.

We need you help to keep bringing you opinions NOT spoon-fed to the mainstream media.

Please call in Thursday between 5 and 6 to not only support the station but also to send a message that YOU want more of what we bring you weekly.

We want to continue to supply the guests and analysis in matters of the media, politics, science, technology, current events, miscellaneous social studies and topics that are amusing.

So PLEASE.... call 888 654-6294 and do what you can.

With your help we can raise $1,000 in 60 minutes.

Let's do it!

...Sacramento, actually, but yours truly just returned from both. I had only visited the former at age 20, for 24 hours. It badly needed another look. Now, I'll save DC, a city I lived in for 10 weeks in 1976 for next week. Here's my personal update on The Big Apple. It is is not so expensive. At least not for food. Ubiquitous delis offer an excellent selection, fast service, reasonable prices and very tasty food.

Hotels, conversely, were full - probably the falling dollar superimposed on Spring Break. My nephew called 44 - NONE had vacancies. He started to call his list on the cell over again (I called it the dumbest idea I'd heard) then hit on the first try. The Howard Johnson's 3 blocks from our location at Katz's deli in lower Manhattan set me up with in a basement room slightly bigger than a walk-in closet for $332. Luckily a colleague was visiting so the next two nights involved splitting a room - around 50th street, mid-town - with space bigger than a closet.

NYC's changed from 1973. Duh, what hasn't. But I did miss the ad blowing smoke rings in Times Square. Sad; it was in a hundred movies - but gone too are the sleazy joints that used to line it like Market Street's fleshpots. That is good - even if its more a tourist theme park now. Huge signs and neon were everywhere. Manhattan is a canyon of steel and glass, and a cold one at that, but the stereotype of a pulsating, humming city is a palpable reality.

I got a tour of "30 Rock" seeing where Ackroyd and Belushi once did SNL - and where the current crop of stiffs continues to go thru the motions of comedy. In the NBC commissary, butt of so many Johnny Carson jokes I signed a publicist to help promote this show. More on that in future blogs.

A few blocks away I got a tour of Sirius Radio's headquarters courtesy of former KDVS GM (and KZFR DJ) Steven Valentino. Howard Stern was not in the house, but he does have a mini-empire staked out in the building.

The Museum of Natural History was great. Steve and I admired a couple of busts of the Emperor Caracalla, he of Roman Baths fame, and were entertained by the sign noting that his legs were in the mezzanine. The Egyptian collection was equally good. And note: the mosaic from Antioch (ancient Roman Syria) is better than the ones currently on display in modern Antakya, Turkey.

The Staten Island Ferry provides a fine view of the Statue of Liberty - free. I recommend it. Don't ask me how the funding works, but what a deal for commuter and tourist alike.

A walking tour of Brooklyn was fine too. Movie-backdrop views with open air. It felt like Miami in parts. More good food - they even do Mexican well. As the evening evolved I was abandoned by nephew and roomate alike who had other agendas. This left me needing to make my way back to midtown post taco dinner while notably inebriated from sangria.

The added challenge struck me as an adventure (warning: this is not advised!) and it proved so, slightly. Bulletproof instructions helped: get off at the 3rd stop and go north on the #6 line. Even though a guy told me, wrongly, that I needed a different line my excellent sense of direction carried me through such bogus instructions. Signs helped, and the fact that I was barely over 0.08 in blood alcohol (probably).

By the way the moving population is young. As in 20 and 30-somethings. I felt like John McCain.

Funniest moment: near Wall Street; the tourists taking picture using the giant bronze bull as a backdrop. Guess which part of bovine anatomy is the favorite to dress up the photo? Hint: it's not the head.

There USED to be a bear next to the bull, but the stock & bond pirates decided that the mere SUGGESTION that the market could turn south caused the sculpture to be knocked off its stand and carted off. Its probably been melted down into cups from which former hedge fund managers will be selling pencils on the street in the decade to come.

If anyone has to sell pencils on the street I DO hope its the weasels who promoted this latest "bubble". Tho in the end it'll be you and I who pay for their greasy schemings.

A tour of the UN was curious. The two bodies we observed in actual session looked less lively than Congress and even more trivial. Interesting sight:. the diagram of what the world (it diplomatically did not reveal the USA's share) spends on armaments vs the estimated costs of fixing many world problems. That was depressing. It would have been worse to see that the US of A accounts for half of that squandering of resources on bullets, bombs and killing machines � with you and I, AGAIN, stuck with the bill.

The demonstration across the street by 100 or so Tibetans protesting China's invasion and colonization of their country was, on the other hand, encouraging. China is actually being shamed by its imperialistic misbehavior. Good. Let's have more of that.

I want to go back some time before too long. More Turkish food and more ancient art is in order.

...Radio Parallax won the 2007 award as the lamest blog west of Reno and north of the Tropic of Cancer. Its not that our content was bad it is just that we have written exactly nothing since June 07. Our official position is that Doug was hit by lightning shortly after his last entry. The show is our blog really, but we swear we will try and do better starting this week.

We have some long range plans to try and get to Siberia for the August 1 solar eclipse, with subsequent visits to Kazakhstan and the "stans" south of it. Probably not Afghanistan, however, nor Pakistan. But viable candidates include Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Surely off the beaten tourist track in every case. If you have some advice for travel in these exotic locations, please drop us a line..

With all the concern about serious infectious diseases that get a lot of press a mundane organism appears to silently gaining momentum. Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus (MRSA) has apparently escaped from the hospital environment to get loose in the general population. The news today is that some experts think it may be 10x more common than previously thought. This is grim news, but no surprise to this correspondent. I see many suspicious cases in patients who walk into my clinic now. For that matter I think I have had more than one bout myself in the past year.

We have gotten so used to blasting bacteria with antibiotic that this MRSA bug is going to bring back the pre-antibiotic era to some degree. Indiscriminent use of antibiotics for conditions they do not help is a big problem in the US. It is a much bigger problem overseas where they are sold over-the-counter. Mexican and Thai citizens who treat their colds with ampicillin are actually doing harm by breeding resistant bugs - like the MRSA now vexing us.

The great scandal out of all of this is that factory farms in the us add it to animal feed to help control the diseases that might spread in overcrowded conditions. Not as needed BTW, but routinely. For reasons not well understood it seems to help growth. So never mind the fact that such animals are being converted to antibiotic resistant bacteria production facilities which are pooping out potentially dangerous organisms on a collossal scale corporate america is only viewing the bottom line - theirs. About two thirds of antibiotics used in the US go into animal feed. This needs to stop!

Is this contributing to the MRSA epidemic? I don't think anyone knows at present, but I hope public health authorities are running down the possibility. If they don't look then they for sure will not find any connection. This would be exactly the kind of science we have come to expect from the Bush administration.

The press seems to be giving Dick Cheney a pass on his position that the Vice-Presidency does not have to obey rules specified for the executive branch of government. Except when he exercises "executive privilege". So if the Vice Presidency is not a part of the executive branch then what branch does Cheney think he belongs to?

One lesson here seems to be: stay in school. Many college dropouts fail to gain enough civics to make themselves fully productive contributors to society. Clearly our Veep missed a couple of lessons in government 1A.

The best part of all this: George W is following Dick's lead. Apparently he decided that executive branch rules must not apply to him either. This is a tougher case to make, but Bush 43 is again taking his lead from his VP. He's the decider guy and he's gonna trust his gut and follow Dick's forceful decision.

We can't wait to hear Will Durst sound off on this one.

We are honored to have Vincent Bugliosi on the show. Despite an overworked voice he gave us a long interview. Do we agree that he answered EVERY question about the murder of JFK? Absolutely not.

We think his opinions have earned a hearing, however.

Mr Bugliosi earned our respect with The Betrayal of America; How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President. In the wake of Florida 2000 few American opinion leaders expressed outrage over the Supreme Court appointing George W. Bush president. An angry Vincent Bugliosi spoke his mind, and deserves great credit for doing so.

In the case of the JFK assassination Mr Buliosi says that a lot of what has been said has origins with charlatans. I know this to be true having dealt with people who have claimed among other things that:

a) the Zapruder film is a phony
b) a shooter of JFK left a bite marked shell case on the grassy knoll
c) autopsy docs saw altered wounds from secret surgery
d) an assassin shot from a manhole

"Disreputable" is too kind a word for some of these folks. This is hardly the same as saying ALL major criticism is wrong. Many contentions have been validated. To pick one: JFK was shot just above the shoulder blade. The Commission published drawings putting it inches higher in the neck. Critics who said diagrams and descriptions did NOT match the drawings were right. This is deliberate deception.

On the flip side. It seems clear that some theories: that the President was been shot in the front of the throat, for example, are wrong. No witness saw an exit to this "entrance" wound. The throat injury resembled an in-shoot but could not have been one. The best evidence suggests that JFK was hit in the shoulder by a slug that deflected upwards, nicked a neck bone, to exit his throat.

Most critics would counter that:
a) no bullet could do what "the magic bullet" supposedly did
b) the Zapruder film shows that the men were not hit simultaneously

Based on experimental trials I know that a jacketed military round COULD easily do what was alleged. They appear to be right about the second notion, however. Study of the Zapruder film reveals that JFK is hit a couple seconds before Connally. But DO they line up well enough for a bullet to have hit both? Probably not, though that does not render the premise impossible. To say that it is surely what HAD to happen is dubious, based as it is on several shaky assumptions about the positions of the men.

Someone needs to stop such arguments on what a carcano bullet can or cannot do. How much deflection can happen once an object is struck needs to be examined by actual experiments. Radioparallax plans a "myth busters" look at this issue over the summer.

Vincent Bugliosi's application of Occams Razor tells him that the explanation the Oswald did it alone makes the most sense. The lack of a comprehensive alternative scenario is a problem for Warren critics.

Constantly multiplying counter theories does not make one confident that progress is being made unravelling a mystery.

Still, there remains cause for doubt:

- Evidence suggests Oswald had associates who manipulated him - His defection to the USSR has unanswered questions. The possibility that Oswald was an intelligence agent remains open. - The allegation that intelligence agencies were ignorant of Oswald is not credible. The CIA and FBI were far more aware of him then they have ever admitted. - Incriminating evidence was evidently laid down in Mexico City, New Orleans and Texas against Oswald. - Compelling evidence from Dealey Plaza suggests a second gun. That Lee Oswald was a totally innocent, framed, man is believed by a few, but is hardly the universal opinion of critics as portrayed by Mr Bugliosi. We invite comments on this interview, and will air responsible commentaries in coming weeks.

Radio Parallax appeared in the Sacramento Bee on January 9, 2007 - the article, by Sam McManis, can be read here: http://www.sacbee.com/127/story/104700.html

I have been putting off discussion of the election until I get back stateside from Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We must delve into the new Democratic controlled second branch of government in January.

Coming to Central America does add a certain perspective to the subject of governments, politics and what NOT to do if you want a functioning society.

Well, in this case I refer to Nicaragua, a country with a history of terrible, terrible governments. As it so often happens the US of A has been happy to have a dictatorial and corrupt government running the show provided it looked after the interests of Americans operating in the area. The US can hardly be blamed for all of the inept, greedy and dishonest strongmen that have run Nicaragua and it neighbors for most of its history but it is worth remembering that FDR once said about the Somoza regime: Somoza is a son of a bitch, but he's OUR son of a bitch.

Daniel Ortega, the former Sandanista honcho will be returned to power next month and nobody we have spoken to claims to have any idea what will happen, but there seems to be a cautious optimism that the confiscations of private property that alienated so many in the first go round of Sandanista rule will not be repeated.

Amazingly, Somoza had accumulated more property in the country than the entire nation of El Salvador. Had the Sandanistas stopped at returning HIS property to others here things would have been, well, better.

More to say on all this later, but it is interesting that neighboring Costa Rica got rid of its army in 1948 and thrived without the drain of military expenses all those years. A lesson for a nation that is spending billions and billions for a crazy war in Iraq? Well yes, actually.

Your host has an estimated 1,500 insect bites from a plunge into the Costa Rican rain forest, which will also generate further comment soon. Or at least when I stop scratching, if that day ever comes.

As the election nears many predict at least one house of Congress going Democratic. A reigning in of GOP abuses of power will then follow, say some. This remains to be seen. Our two party system almost guarantees few earthshaking results from election day. Despite gerrymandering of Congressional districts by legislatures to insure that incumbents stay in power it appears that in as many as one tenth of the races (perhaps 40 of 435) real contests are taking place. Normally safe Republican seats ARE in play. In California we see John Doolittle and Richard Pombo - young turk conservatives given a lot of power by the GOP hierarchy - running for their lives.

Even loyal Republicans seem unhappy with the Bush administration's ham-fisted mis-management of the Iraq war. It blunders along with no goals outlined and no strategy apparent. Wanting "to win" is nice, but like "wanting to lose weight" one does need a plan. None has been articulated regarding Iraq despite 3 1/2 years of war (and fresh rumblings about how 20,000 more troops are needed). The continued bad habits of the GOP-led federal government, which continues to borrow $300-400 billion more than it takes in (with no end in sight) is also disturbing the party faithful - finally. Things are looking good for the Dems, but...luckily for Karl Rove the GOP has just gotten an October surprise from a New Jersey court on gay marriage. It might save the day.

See: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1935933.ece and: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102601565.html This is THE opportunity to energize the hard-core Republican religious base.

Americans are willing to grant homosexuals the same rights spouses enjoy via civil unions and other legal remedies. In state after state, however (including a deep BLUE state like California) they draw the line at calling this "marriage". That word is critical. California has voted Democratic for president 4 times in a row, but the Knight Initiative a few years back - which defined marriage as a heterosexual union - didn't just win, it won 2:1, a landslide.

Some gay activists have been determined to push this issue hard now. That it is political suicide does not trouble them. The New Jersey ruling, released pre-election, has put wind beneath the wings of a floundering George Bush who has immediately seen some reversals of fortunes in polls. In 2004 San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome won praise from the cities vast gay community with his order to grant marriage licences to homosexual couples. It didn't turn out to be much of a breakthrough. State authorities lined up to quash the practice and it WAS halted. Across the nation the effect of this election year move was electrifying - to the GOPs base.

Remember: in Ohio alone, despite all the irregularities and fraud under Kenneth Blackwell - which kept hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes from being counted - a switch of 59,000 votes would have made Kerry president. Gay marriage, or opposition to it, motivated big numbers to go to the polls. Enought to change the outcome? ALMOST certainly.

The lesson here has NOT been gleaned by activists. If the expected Democratic resurgence flops on November 7th no one will be more at fault than those who are not satisfied with achieving the goals of civil unions, but instead went for broke on making the public accept homosexual "marriage" as being exactly that. The public has been unwilling to to do this almost everywhere east of the Bay Bridge. Its dumb politics could turn out to be disastrous politics.

Some folks need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Team Bush has been trying to pin 9/11 and the failure to get Bin Laden on..... who else - Bill Clinton. So when the ex-Prez went face to face with Chris Wallace in FOX he was loaded for bear. When Wallace started to go after Clinton for his alleged failings re Bin Laden he got sent to the canvas. For my money this might be Bill Clintons finest hour, but don't take my word for it, check out the video: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Clinton_blasts_Fox_host_Nice_little_0925.html

On this weeks show we talk to Dr. Bob Fitrakis, Green Party candidate for Governor in Ohio. Bob Fitrakis has been a real activist in Ohio - taking on Ken Blackwell, who delivered Ohio into the Bush camp in 2004 using the same playbook Katherine Harris employed in Florida 2000 (with the unwelcome addition of electronic voting chicanery).

Robert Kennedy Jr's article in Rolling Stone told this tale and we highly recommend that you also read: The Battle for Ohio in the August 24th issue of the magazine too. Websites for Bob Fitrakis include: www.bobforohio.com, www.freepress.org, http://www.fraudbusterbob.com. He will put the links to "The Battle for Ohio" on his web site.

We should have stuck with our evaluation of what Plutos fate was likely to be. The world's astronomers in Prague indeed demoted Pluto after more political bickering than the Iowa caucases. See: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-pluto25aug25,0,1325722.story?coll=la-home-headlines Media reports had focused on numerous crazy options for how to resolve the embarrasing dilemma of being unable to define exactly what a planet is. Some of these made little sense - but this shows what happens when political horse trading runs amok. The winner in this case was the most sensible option, so the International Astronomical Union does score a few points over the avarage voting population.

Speaking of the product of Joe Average voter. The question being asked openly in wider and wider circles e.g. Is George Bush too dumb to be President is a good one to look at. See: http://www.geraldplessner.com/articles/latest.cgi and elsewhere on the internet. He did get a degree at Harvard, but what did Bill Maher say?: "Bush is an MBA like Elis was a black belt" or something equivalent.

Thanks to the continued efforts of Amercian religous fundamentalists more than half the populace in the Uuu-nited States of Amerca says it does not believe in evolution including the man with his finger on the nuclear button. The Bible does says differently. We're wating for good Christian astronomy to return to replace the theory of heliocentrism with its spherical earth with what the good book tells us: the earth is flat and the universe with its stars, sun, moon and planets circles overhead. Let's start burning people at the stake who say otherwise - as in the good old days of real Christian authority.

Why not demand they stop teaching about the "germ" theory of disease. The Bible says most infections are caused by demons or a wrathful diety. Let's start casting out demons again, like Jesus did. Forget shots and antibiotics. More faith healers like Jimmy Swaggert are where we should spend those faith based charity dollars, eh?

Speaking of Holy Rollers: who knows what the total tally of your federal tax dollars to charities operated by any of various Muslim, Buddist, Bahai, Jain, Shinto, Parsee or any other non Jewish/Christian faiths. zero you say? Take a bow. No wonder you hear so few objections by politicians to Israelis beating up Lebanese. If it was good enough for Moses its good enough for us. Among the Bibles bloody chronicles is the conquest of the Jordan River Valley by the Hebrews who had been following Moses for decades. The man Charleton Heston would later play assured his people that this was the land of milk and honey promised them. Yahweh himself had told him so. Fundamentalist Christians and Jews hold that to be a legitimate contract. Never mind the Canaanites already living in Jericho etc. Soon enough they will be killed or evicted as outlined in The Good Book. Hebrews knew them as Canaanites, Greeks called them Phoenicians. Same people and they're still around. They were kicked out of Canaan (today The West Bank fought over by Palestinian and Jew) but todays Canaanites still live on the coast, today know as Lebanon.

Since we're on a roll it would be interesting to point out that the first time genocide is spoken of in recorded histories is in Deuteronomy. The Amorites are to be wiped out for the crime of being who they were. This is not written about disaprovingly. There is no hand wringing over it. It is the right thing to do. Kill 'em all and take their stuff. One of the finest viewpoints fundamental to our Judeo-Christian values, no? There is good stuff in the Bible but Holy Moses has it got blueprints for ugliness. Check it out.

It appears that Pluto will survive the recall drive and will retain the title of planet. We thought Brian Marsden would carry the day based on his status as the solar system's nomenclature maven. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1843914,00.html. But sentiment is apparently winning out over Marsden's cool logic. Radio Parallax suspects Pluto will eventually lose on appeal and that we will define the solar system as having 4 "terrestrial" planets 4 gas giant planets and x number of Kuiper Belt objects plus a handful of asteroids that will be called "planets" by some people owing to their being round. Eight will eventually be the new number accepted by all no matter what you are reading this week. Then again, don't bet the farm on any quick resolution of this embarrasing astronomic conundrum.

After you've read Jim Bamford's article in Rolling Stone take a minute to review what Sy Hersch wrote 4 months ago in the New Yorker at http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact Then read his current story in the August 14th New Yorker on Lebanon. Especially telling quote from a senior intelligence source: There is no way Rumsfeld and Cheney will draw the right conclusion from this. When the smoke clears, they'll say it was a success, and they'll draw reinforcement for their plan to attack Iran." W is now saying Israel "prevailed". Hersch thinks Lebanon was a dry run for Iran. For further interesting reading try Larissa Alexandrovna at AlterNet who thinks the same thing based on her soirces. She has some things to say about "the trigger" that will lead to war vs Iran in the near future. Think Gulf of Tonkin incident.

And how many anti-oxidants do you swallow per day? The latest evidence per New Scientist magazine says you should just switch to fresh fruits and vegetables. Not only are anti-oxidant pills not proving their worth they might even do harm. Yikes! Couldn't find the web address so you'll just have to listen to the program.

We cannot recommend James Bamford's article in Rolling Stone highly enough. We are trying to get Mr. Bamford for the show. The article is in the August 10th issue of the magazine. Check it out at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/10962352/iran_the_next_war. Radio Parallax thinks this is a MUST READ.

Joe Lieberman's welcome defeat gives the GOP a "2 out of 3 choices are winners" situation in Connecticut. The money will be found to help Joe run and while top Republican officials are not backing their boy he gets in if the formerly-a-Democrat incumbent splits the Demo vote. Only a Lamont victory will make Karl Rove sad. See: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/ as well as http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14334681/ I am going to make a modest contribution to Lamont-We all probably should.

We are sorry to note the passing of Mike Douglas. Imagine daytime TV where John Lennon is your co-host for a week! Douglas was so far above the crap on the air today that it is sad to contemplate how far we have fallen since 1982 when he quit.

We're proud to announce that we will be interviewing fiction writer Ray Bradbury from his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 1st, 2006.

Some say Bush had a plan to invade Iraq before September 11th - that's not true - he had two. Greg Palast has obtained copies of both. On our show he explains the difference between Plan A of Big Oil/OPEC vs. Plan B of the Neocons. Greg also explains America's electoral shenanigans in greater detail. [Listen to this show]

McCloskey is making a run at Richard Pombo's seat in the 11th Congressional District. He's mad about Pombo's efforts to undo the Endangered Species Act, which McCloskey co-authored. Listen to our interview with McCloskey pre-primary election. [Listen to this show]

We spoke with Mr. Corwin on the eve of the 2006 Oscar telecast. A documentary about his life "On a Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin" was nominated for best short subject - and in fact won the award. He spoke with us about his illustrious career. A must for students of radio. [Listen to this show]

One of our favorite interviews. The former toast of Broadway chatted with us about her star-studded career and people she worked with. She was a delight. [Listen to this show]