3.02.2008
Falling Off The Cliff
Just like falling off a cliff , just like a steep tide change, it seems winter is plummeting into spring. Not long ago we had a big winter storm and victory at sea; now we've got those beautiful days that usher in spring. And the surf has been non-stop. I've heard several of the boyz complain (brag) about how tired they are, or lament about how many consecutive days they've spent in the water. Not a bad thing. Surf at the Steps has ranged from solid overhead to waist high, and for the most part, tides have been cooperative. Speaking of cooperative, both surf and tide combined to create great conditions for the Valentine's Massacre. I came down to watch as some great surfers hopped on some 30-year old rockets and ripped the Steps. Ya know - 30 years ago I don't think the boyz quite rode the boards of the day like they do now. Although use of the Steps for weekend contests is out of hand, the Massacre provided some solid entertainment. Surprisingly, we've even had some early south in recent days, and Tiburones showed signs of coming back to life after the winter hibernation. A couple days ago, I surfed some solid south walls - it even brought JH down from Bol Segundo.
Know which presidential candi you want to vote for yet? The choices are slimming down - war or war. Speaking of which, I read the US just launched a new warship partly constructed of steel from the World Trade Center. Seriously, it makes me ill. Are we so small minded and void of creativity that we can only focus on fear, revenge, and power. I would have been happy to hear about some use that promoted world peace - the first of a fleet of floating hospitals we would operate to promote peace through increasing the quality of life for ourselves and others by addressing things like malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and water borne disease. It's obvious that bringing populations to their knees does not build good will, promote world citizenship, or increase the quality of life for anyone. I use the concept of "quality of life" because it was an economic term I learned about while in school that served to convey the concept of a perfect economic condition - a relationship where both parties engaged in a transaction equally increase their quality of life. It does not seem to me the US leadership is interested in optimum.
Well, today's news suggests that the Bush legacy-push with regard to peace between Palestinians and Israel has evaporated. Too bad. He'll just have to be known for lying the US population into war, breaking the law and trying to retroactively make his indiscretion lawful, the clusterfuck called New Orleans, reversing the health-based policy regarding arsenic in water, selling off our public parks to oil and gas exploration and associated environmental degradation, using anti-science to silence the discussion regarding global warming, diverting public funds into the war machine instead of investing in the US, making torture acceptable, generally acting like the idiot he is, and erasing the separation of powers that makes our nation unique. Wow! And there's more.
The featured photo shows Capitola getting some swell.
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)
