The world has ended several times in my life. Each time, I usually awakened the following morning, automatically checking for functioning body parts and mental faculties just in case my room wasn’t a replica created by some extraterrestrial force the way things often happen in The Twilight Zone or on [...]
Open Salon recently put out a call for the sexiest man living. That’s patently unfair to heterosexual males like me because we don’t look at other men as sexy. Speaking only for myself, I view men in general as dorks. There’s no hotness, no sexiness to a dork.
Sarah Palin, on [...]
Yesterday I received an e-mail from my cousin in Arkansas. She keeps me informed of goings on and I appreciate her messages. She wrote that her husband and brother (another cousin) had gone to “the farm” at three a.m. on a deer hunting foray. The farm she mentioned is owned [...]
I’ve been somewhat preoccupied over the past month or so. Almost all of my time during that period was related to my cataract surgery. In retrospect, it seems I was preparing for surgery on one eye and recovering afterward while at the same time, getting ready for surgery on the [...]
This morning I was chatting with a Facebook Friend about finding a suitable blog platform. She’s a professional writer, so she’s a little pickier than me. She’s looking not just for an audience but for the right audience. Professional writers need the exposure that could lead to a paid gig. [...]
I wouldn’t exactly characterize it as rife, but speculation about Gavin Newsom is in the air. It started this past Friday when he announced his withdrawal from the governor’s race. In the beginning, everyone seemed inert, hardly grasping what had just occurred. But the talking pointy heads are beginning to [...]
This is probably a meaningless post unless you know a little about San Francisco. But if you are somewhat familiar with the city, you may recall or have heard about the Jack Tar Hotel.
This relic of another era at the corner of Van Ness and Geary in San Francisco is [...]
Be honest now, men. If you had a chance, would you pose full-frontal nude in Playgirl Magazine if the editors invited you?
A lot of men have actually exposed all in the pages of that publication, including Burt Reynolds when he was still a hunk. Now, Levi Johnston, the father of [...]
When the story first broke, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to CNN News. CNN is the news outlet after all that continually flashes “Breaking News” or something similar across the ticker at the bottom of the screen. Every thing is “breaking” or “developing.” My mind numbs itself in [...]
Another child murdered. Another family in turmoil. Another mother in pain so excruciating that she collapsed on television. This mother now joins other mothers forever deprived of the pleasure and joy of loving a child and watching it achieve in life and in school, attending proms, graduating, heading for college, [...]
I’ve encountered a writer’s block of unparalleled density. I’ve been chipping at it in my mind for about a month without a great deal of effect. A friend of mine once observed, “We can saw off the leg of an elephant with the wings of butterflies if we saw long [...]
I’m watching the President’s Cup golf match televised from San Francisco’s Harding Park Golf Course. This magnificent example of San Francisco’s beauty winds around Lake Merced not too far from the main campus of San Francisco State University where, in a moment of insanity, I once enrolled.
The President’s Cup is [...]
Gavin Newsom continues to reveal his lack of judgment and absolute insensitivity to the feelings of those he has harmed.
His newest revelation about his affair with the wife of his campaign manager appeared in Details Magazine in response to a question about his lowest point. Here’s the money transaction:
Details: Was [...]
If Gavin Newsom isn’t careful, he’s going to be branded the Sarah Palin of the Democratic Party. If you recall, Sarah was selected by John McCain as his running mate in the last presidential election. The Republican Party immediately embarked on an odd odyssey, pumping up Sarah’s “foreign policy” experience. [...]
Be honest now. If you were given a choice between an all expenses paid vacation to Chicago or Rio de Janeiro, which one would you choose.
Personally, I’d choose Rio. I’ve never been there so the town would offer a new experience. Just looking for the Girl from Ipanema would take [...]
This may sound heartless, but I can’t seem to dredge up any pity for Roman Polanski. He was arrested recently in Switzerland and placed in jail pending a deportation hearing on a 32-year old warrant because he failed to appear in court for sentencing on a charge of unlawful sex [...]
In ABC’s new Wednesday evening Fall offering, “Cougar Town,” Courteney Cox plays a recently-divorced forty-something who decides to hit the jungle trail. Almost before we can say “sex” she latches onto a handsome stud and hauls him off to her pad.
That’s it. That’s the whole story encapsulated in the 30-minute [...]
We parked on Valencia just around the corner from 24th Street. The four of us walked across 24th for a bite of lunch in a corner café, which was almost empty at that time of the afternoon. The waitress was a nice young girl who seated us promptly and then [...]
A major recurring theme in the expected gubernatorial primary between Democratic contestants Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown will be the new versus the old. The lines are already forming, as evidenced by the following statement to Politico by Newsom’s political strategist, Garry South.
The contrast [between Newsom and Brown] is obvious. [...]
I’ll be moving on in a couple of days, leaving Maryland for Little Rock and from there to Oakland CA. I’ll miss MD and all of its tourist attractions, places like many Civil War battlefields, state and national wild horse preserves along the Atlantic, and, of course, Washington, D.C., a [...]
As a general rule, I ignore America’s lunatic fringe. To me, conspiracy theorists of both the right and left are humorous in a silly sort of way. If nothing else, they illustrate the ease with which many Americans glom onto the most outrageously unbelievable stories.
The birthers are merely the latest [...]
Number of comments: 1 Mary Jo Kopechne
July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969
Posted in Celebrities, Current Events, History and Recollections, News Media, Politics, Power, Scandals Tagged: Mary Jo Kopechne, Ted Kennedy [...]
Number of comments: 1 Okay, here’s the challenge. Name ten poems that have touched you. Why poems? We’ve covered books and short stories. Poetry just seems to follow naturally.
In my own personal case, I’m thinking not necessarily about poems but about almost any written output that has a nice rhythm to it. Sometimes, poems [...]
Number of comments: 1 I was browsing Faceboook a few days ago when I ran across another one of those peculiar Facebook exercises apparently designed to expose the pathetically low level of sophistication of Americans to the world.
This one was titled 15 Books, and you’re supposed to name 15 books you’ve read that [...]
For about 20 years, I taught in a variety of 4-year and community colleges. This is just a partial list of the subjects and classes I taught—Beginning Political Science, American Government, Constitutional Law and Politics, International Law and Politics, Comparative Politics, the Politics of Hawaii, American Studies with a concentration [...]
If you take a look at my Facebook page, you’ll probably notice right away that I do not have a lot of Facebook Friends.
Your observation will be correct. At one time, I had more, but about a month ago, I decided to cleanse my list. By “cleanse” I mean I [...]
This past Saturday, we drove from Annapolis to Philadelphia to scout out Philly’s historic locations, snap a few photos, snack a little bit, and get sunburned a lot. And, we walked our buns off.
Philly’s primary historical landmarks are concentrated amid lots of tall buildings without historical significance at the moment, [...]
I’ve been away from the ‘net since leaving Texas for Maryland, so I’ve been catching up with a few things, stuff you can’t get into heaven without, like a surplus of junk emails. It feels good when I delete them in batches without reading them. And as Ernest Hemingway once [...]
Number of comments: 1 I’d almost phased out of the politics of California when a couple of items popped up on the radar screen.
A day or so ago, Eric Jaye, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s long-time friend and campaign strategist, resigned, ostensibly because of a difference of opinion over how to run Newsom’s campaign [...]
Lately, I’ve been in a Facebook frenzy. For some reason, I started working a few of those idiotic exercises that remind me of the 2nd Grade, like “What kind of element are you (Krypton, it turns out),” or “First 5 cars you owned.” On the cars thing, I actually couldn’t [...]
Number of comments: 1 But not the ordinary run of Supreme Court nominees.We need a woman who has never been s judge in any venue, period. Prior experience corrupts the brain.
Taking it a step further, we need a a Justice without a scintilla of legal education or training. The Constitution requires no such education [...]
I haven’t been able to post anything lately because my wife has been in and out of the hospital since early April.
First, she was admitted for a sort of combined urinary tract-pneumonia infection.
Then, after leaving the hospital, she spent a couple of days at home before she fell and fractured [...]
As a blogger who writes mainly but not entirely about politics, I do my level best to approach political topics with some degree of objectivity.
Naturally, complete objectivity isn’t possible. We all have our biases and they creep unnoticed into our writings. And then we are castigated by someone because we’ve [...]
Now that Mr. and Mrs. Gavo have released a list of their wedding gifts and everyone has had a chance to sneer about the number of picture frames and crock pots, our intrepid staff thought we ought to compile our own list of original gifts we would have given had [...]
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne envisions a world without print journalism in his on-line column today. It isn’t pretty for the legions of working journalists and would-be-journalists.
Under the rules of a capitalist economic system, print journalism will be replaced by some form of electronically-transmitted news. Dionne uses a nice analogy, [...]
Let me see if I have this right. North Korea fires another missile that fizzled and all of a sudden the United Nations Security Council calls an emergency meeting to meet the “threat.”
Help me count the number of times the following script has played out. I’ve lost track, but never [...]
2010 will be the year of elections in California. The Primary Election will be held on June 8. Five months later, on November 2, the General Election will decide the outcome of several statewide offices, including Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, among others.
The one race that has captured almost [...]
Number of comments: 1 Do names determine destiny? We believe so. Men with masculine names like John, William, and Rock have an advantage in their youth. In grade school for example, no one teases a kid with a masculine name, unless it belongs to a girl. Male Johns and Bills et al usually become [...]
I apologize in advance if I offend the sensibilities of the literary crowd or violate policies regarding obscenity and pornography. And I would fully understand if the powers that be delete this post. However, I have just read a post on another site by a rape victim titled “Well, rape [...]
So, Big Rush, you wanna challenge Barry to a debate? Mano y mano?
Big mistake, man. Not that you can’t whup Barry’s ass. He’s a lightweight compared to you, man. It’s just the wrong debate against the wrong guy at the wrong time.
I’m talking up front here, no one gives a [...]
I’ve always taken solace in the small things in life, the things that anchor my existence and tell me that all is well with the world. Such a thing buoyed my spirits this morning after my first cup of coffee.
I followed my usual morning routine, shower, mundane middle-America jeans and [...]
I confess straight up and down that I didn’t watch much of Barack’s speech yesterday. I was too engrossed in the audience.
There was Turncoat Joe, sitting up front somewhere with his classic just-been-hit-in-the-forehead-with-a-rubber-mallet vacant stare, silly grin and all. Sure, he hugged Barack later, but that was just another blatant [...]
I hereby swear or affirm as the case may be that I’ve been neglecting my Bay Area blog in favor of Open Salon. Even so, I do keep up with the news. I am aware, for example, that Missus Mayorette is with child. I fully expect the Three Wise Men, [...]
A slew of those 25 things clones is making the rounds. The latest is a series of 25 questions we’re supposed to answer Yes or No to without additional comment. The questions are kind of personal, and I have a hunch a sedate housewife or a CEO might be reluctant [...]
Okay, so GQ Magazine has selected Justin Timberlake to head its list of the Top 10 Most Stylish Men in America. GQ’s on-line version has a shot of Justy looking suitably sexy, if you can call ducking your chin and gazing up at the camera with a sort of a [...]
This morning I received an email from an unnamed relative in the heart of the Confederacy. This particular relative apparently makes money by forwarding information that is of no practical use to anyone. Except rednapes. The information he inundates me with are about as racist as they come, and all [...]
Number of comments: 3 I’m assuming (yes, I know we shouldn’t) that the Republicans will forgo any and all benefits that may come their way from the positive results of Obama’s stimulus package.
For example, if their coveted portfolios rise in value, I would expect them to flat refuse the increased monetary value and donate [...]
When Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire withdrew from consideration as Obama’s Commerce Secretary, he said he had “irreconcilable” differences with Obama over the stimulus package proposed by the Democrats. He said he is a “fiscal conservative” and always has been one.
His behavior seems rather odd to me. If he [...]
A new game is making the rounds on the internet. At least, it’s new to me. Maybe you know about it. It’s a variation on the Facebook phenomen 25 Things. As I understand the new game, it’s also one of those “reveal” things that provide subtle and not so subtle [...]
Well, no, not me. But I have known quite a few and even have one in the family. I don’t know how they think, but I once developed a theory of the police personality that went something like this: a cop is someone who is trained to overlook people driving [...]
Mary Jo Kopechne
July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969
Posted in Celebrities, Current Events, History and Recollections, News Media, Politics, Power, Scandals Tagged: Mary Jo Kopechne, Ted Kennedy [...] 
