Grumpy?

14 through 16 October – swell still hanging by a thread. Surfed very small, waist to knee-high, second bowl. But, the weather was unreal and the Humpbacks are spectacular.

Whether or not this crisis will mean the end of the neoliberal era will depend on political mobilization — specifically, how successful the left will be in building coalitions behind an agenda that combines egalitarianism with a stable financial system. I would say this: if the left is unable to defeat neoliberalism now, and build some version of social democracy or “leashed capitalism”, then we will never do it. …..Under neoliberalism, financial market players have become accustomed to do as they wish when the market is going up, but to get bailed out when the market is going down — privatization of profits and socialization of losses. Robert Pollin – 10/2008

20 October – Swell started to show today after a weekend of flatness. Unfortunately, it’s high tide all day. Notwithstanding, I went out at the Steps anyway. The bloated conditions kept the crowds low, and I got a couple. The swell is from the south-southwest – 1.8 feet at 17 seconds. Long waits and cold water, but – the Humpbacks were entertaining again.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” President Eisenhower, 1961

“……this is business as usual in Washington. And I think, you know, somebody like Barack Obama, you see somebody with what you would feel are probably very good intentions, and you get the sense that around the Obama kitchen table there’s a lot of heartfelt, well-meaning thought going on, and yet the machine does not care how well-meaning Barack Obama is, doesn’t care how well-meaning the voters are who hope that Barack Obama can make change. The machine is a cutthroat instrument of power. And all the rest of us are kind of cannon fodder in it.”........“And it’s not because it’s, you know, run by evil men like Dick Cheney. That’s kind of incidental. What really is happening is that you have a machine out there that has a vested interest, that simply pulses forward. And the only thing that can slow it is what Eisenhower called an alert and knowledgeable citizenry, basically all of us being deeply engaged. And we’re not, for several reasons that have to do with how our society evolved and how the American way of war took over the American way.” Eugene Jarecki on “The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril”

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the U.S. may be vulnerable to a terrorist attack during the next six months, with violent groups more likely to try to take advantage of a new president and administration. ``Any period of transition creates a greater vulnerability, meaning there's more likelihood of distraction,'' Chertoff said in an interview. ``You have to be concerned it will create an operational opportunity for terrorists.'' Solution – elect the president for life.

21 October – South/Southwest swell pouring in, fall is upon us, and so are the CWC pros. Swell numbers were 2 feet from 205 at 17 seconds to 2.6 feet from 200 at 14 seconds. I surfed Second Bowl Insides with Tenzen – Got some fun ones and for the most part stayed out of the way of the rippers. View of the day had Joe “Sheriff” Clarke piped while pushing with his small watercraft. Joe, the board, and the paddle stuffed. When the foam ball hit, the board took off and it looked pretty dangerous during the spin cycle. Joe came up grinning. I enjoyed the comment regarding my blogary. Hard hitting on the subject of my implied and stated politico, and not too happy with JTH. An important point was made – rant but no solution. Indeed. Solutions would have to encompass the majority – SPB, and I am afraid the level of awareness would have to dramatically increase for any solution to take hold. See the excerpt from Eugene Jarecki posted above. As I have stated here before, for me the solution lies in the local community. Interacting with young people, embracing visitors from outside the county and country, and life’s example and lessons. I’ve also described the core mechanism of revolutions that have taken place in India, South Africa, and Algeria. Not violence, but economic activism. Vote with your money; with your contribution to the work force; with your productivity. In the end, we need to be happy with ourselves. Let us enrich ourselves with our mutual differences. -Paul Valery, poet and philosopher (1871-1945)

22, 23, 24 October – South swell continues to show through the week; picked up again today with the buoys showing 3 feet from 185 at 17 seconds. For the most part I surfed El Segundo Bol, but I did tour Tiburones for a few. Pretty fun - heapings of Indian summer, mats of kelp, and the boyz on the beach. The Humpbacks are still hanging out in front of the Steps; they seem to be lounging in the glassy mid-morning and afternoon sun.

25, 26 October – When I first looked at the surf on Saturday, it was cranking. Long, well separated sets, sunny and glassy, and the crowd had yet to respond. I saw some bombs driving through Tiburones. Wells and a few others had it dialed. But – I had to head over the hill for football. It was a great game to watch, but we got destroyed. Heading back over the hill, my stoke started to burn. I got home, ignored the thick fog, and jammed to the Point – visions of the morning sets stuck in my head. I couldn’t even see the beach through the fog, and most of the boyz I spoke to who had just left the water told me it was bunk. Cross-chopped from an earlier fog wind, low tide and kelp matted, cold, and crowded. I just about turned to go when Hot Dog provided a re-stoke session. In the end, I went out at Tiburones, got a few double-ups, and went home feeling surfed. I repeated the low tide episode today, but no double-ups. The swell was still fun, crowds weren’t too bad, and I only got kelp-launched once – last wave. On the upside, it was freezing. The water, wind, and fog combined to chill deep. On the pro front - Nat Young, part time ripper of the left at Tiburones, won the CWC. It’s good news because not only is he a great surfer – he’s a great kid. Good manners out in the water, good attitude, and a great representative of surfing. The planets and stars have aligned.

Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727)  ¶ 11:54 PM 0 comments

 

Voting

All right - here's my spin. First, I know some of you are swayed by the "cute" and "cheeky" VP potential, but check the the possible Pres potential shown here. He surfs - what more do I have to say. He's lookin' good in the water - she's lookin' good on ice. Right. Let's look at first principle - the nation's mission statement. I've asked you to consider this before, but I've decided to simplify.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union - Guys around the table, flasks in hand, creating a union of states that require a government - formed by the people.

Establish justice - Sitting around the table, the boyz recognize that justice, transparency, fair treatment, and treating others as you wish to be treated are principles important to the foundation of any government - or people just getting along.

Insure domestic tranquility - The boyz start feeling pretty good after a few flasks and it falls in their lap - it's good feeling good. We need to immortalize this in government. What does it take to insure domestic tranquility? Health, safety, security, food, roof over the head, a job, being part of the community - Surf? Threat of nuclear war?

Provide for the common defense - Given the situation with the Brit, there was no telling. Had to be ready to defend the nation. Considering our history, maybe we've gone a little awry here.

Promote the general welfare - The boyz recognized the fledgling nation required well educated citizens - at least as educated as those conceiving the Constitution. What else goes into one's welfare? Health care? Check out the definition of wellfare in the dictionary, This aspiration overlaps with domestic tranquility - the boyz must have been pretty lit up by this point - that said - nothing wrong with the concept.

Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity - Well said boyz.

Anyways - I'm concerned about the pursuit of peace - internal and external. Security through understanding and helping each other out - Marine Corps replaced by the Peace Corps - eliminate nuclear weapons - a fair resolution to the middle east - treat others as we wish to be treated - allow citizens the dignity to work, live, and die - no corporate/citizen equality, lose capital punishment, rethink the drug war, war on terrorism, war on poverty, and any other wars you can dream up, environment, the rights of all creatures, sustainability, real energy solutions, financial and government transparency, privacy - I know there's more - and we can only accomplish so much each day - what about a short list?

Just dreaming - but we do have an opportunity to vote.  ¶ 11:06 PM 1 comments

 

I Am Paying Attention

I am paying attention - just not on the daily blog. Also, I figure there is already soooo much material out there in the ethersphere, my daily input would be di mimus. How about Tina Fey as Impalin? Epic. How about Palin as Impalin? How about here supporters arguing her benefits and aplitude? No one can blog this stuff. It's real TV. Like a drink of spring water in the desert, there has been surf to distract us from the politcal meyham. So---

7 September – swell actually picked up. On the buoys, it shows that it wasn’t the swell as much as the direction that kicked the swell up. Out at the Bay buoy, the swell registered 2.6 feet at 17 seconds from 210.

8 September – surf was on all day. I surfed the Steps, First Bowl, until my arms fell off and I was thermally drained. Great sets, overhead waves, patchy fog and just a breeze. The Monterey buoy showed the swell at 3.2 feet, 17 seconds, from 195. The Harvest Platform showed 3.2, 17 seconds, from 215. I think the 215 is important – the best direction for the Bay.

9 September – surfed Tiburones as the swell continued to show. Buoys showed the swell at 4 feet, 17 seconds from 195. I started at Bol Primero and then moved down to Tiburones. My first real session at Tiburones this south swell season, and it was way cool. Head high to over head and firing.

10 September – Tiburones for another helping. The swell poured through for the fourth straight day. Hot Dog, Shane Grom, Kneeboarder “shacked” Roy, Bert, Denny, Wells, and the peripheral LBs. It was great fun, started out grey and went to sun with slight wind. There were plenty of waves for all. When Tiburones is good – its way good. Boyz were splitting the right and left with stereo barrels; bombs coming through with rides down toward Privates; and the inside speedway boogie was holding. I know I speak for the boyz when I say, “I’m baked”. The buoys show about 2.4 feet at 17 seconds from 190. Second buoy check in the evening shows 3.6 feet at 14 seconds from 190 – some of my favorite numbers.

11 September – Swell a bit smaller, but still making a stand. Although work precluded me from participating, I did stop to check the Point. I saw great waves – First peak was overhead – down to Tiburones – where shoulder-high walls were cranking. Buoys stay strong 3 feet at 14 seconds from 195.

I read this on the Net - “Even in a political culture accustomed to truth-stretching, McCain's skirting of facts has stood out this week. It has infuriated and flustered Obama's campaign, and campaign pros are watching to see how much voters disregard news reports noting factual holes in the claims.” What popped out at me was the part about the voters noticing the McCain doublespeak. Lets face it, when it came to the Iraq war, and the Bushspeak that propagated the airways, it was a proven fact that the voting public, lied to as they were, bought it hook, line, and sinker. There was the mushroom cloud, mobile chem weapons labs, Al Quida, and “they’ll welcome us with flowers”. A study was done that correlated the voting public's belief in shit with their propensity to watch those news programs that most vigorously peddled the shit. Now the question is, “will the voting public question the McCain doublespeak train.” Why ask?

12 to 15 September – south swell residual slips through, and every once in a while, a slide is possible through the submarine net of kelp. That said, today’s session showed promise. The buoys read 2.3 feet, at 17 seconds from 190. I rode a few at First Bowl, and it did appear to be picking up. We shall see.

“As it happens, though, not that long ago we had a rare political moment in this country, a moment where the public sat up and took notice of economic policy -- and spoke out and made its voice heard too. When George W. Bush made it to term #2, he decided to try to privatize social security to reward his supporters on Wall Street with a new source of capital, customers, and fees. (Those would be the same people whose firms are now cratering under the weight of the bad debt they recklessly took on while Republican regulators looked the other way). But as it turned out, we Americans were not about to let our elected representatives turn over our social security taxes to Wall Street financiers to gamble with if it meant losing the guaranteed income that has allowed millions upon millions of American seniors to live out their sunset years with at least a basic measure of dignity.” I reprint this to suggest that what Bush did not accomplish for social security was accomplished with health care.

Sure, now you can have a HAS – health savings account – essentially add banks to the list of those siphoning off your health care dollars without providing health care. Supposedly you set up an account with pre-tax dollars up to a limit, and use those dollars for your very large deductible. What I found so far is the bank is charging me fees, so that my initial set-up deposit of $100 was worth $80 within a month – and I hadn’t even used it yet. So that’s how these fuckers keep you paying all their favorites off. No bid contracts with your tax money, performance out the window (the private sector can do it better – Blackwater?), privatize services, short-term profit over people.

16 September – see 15 September except for the kook who dropped in on me thereby hacking my board. Buoy shows 2.2 feet at 14 seconds from 200 degrees.

17 and 18 September – History repeats itself. Surfed First Bowl and Second Bowl. The water was pleasant, the sun was out, and, while it was windy, it wasn’t as bad as the kelp that appeared as the tide dropped. No complaints.

19 September – I’m not sure, but it appears the swell picked up. Got some bombs at First Bowl, and saw some bombs go through Second Bowl, although I only snagged a few inbetweeners at Second Bowl. For sure – not many places where consecutive days can be pulled together. We are lucky. I am lucky. I’m not sure what the ocean was giving up, but the buoys showed 2.8 feet at 14 seconds from 175 with 4.3 feet at 12 seconds from 275. In any case, the combo seemed to work.

I am sure you are all aware of the crisis in the financial sector. We, the taxpayers, will pay. Those who benefited will be mostly be untouched; the rest of us left in the slag with a higher national debt per capita and other more direct challenges. On a positive note, some of the generic media outlets – not many, but some, have surmised that if Wush got his way, privatized social security – aka – Wall Street with our Social Security Trust, SS would have been destroyed – and I don’t think Corpgov would have bailed us out. Or maybe they would have – if we can’t consume – what use are we?

20 – 24 September – Surfed the Steps on the 20th, got a couple, but you could tell the foreign students were back in town (foreign = anyone from over the hill, to the south, and to the west). The swell from Friday had all but disappeared. Surf depressed? We need a bail out.

29 & 30 September – After a lay off of five days, a small south started to show on Monday. At the end of the day, I was at home dicking around, when the Zealand at my house informed me there were waves at the Steps. I had looked at it during the day, and it was flat. But, maybe conditions had changed. I took a chance and went down with my stuff. Sure enough, a little south line rolled through First Bowl, and I could see south lines moving through 38th. I went out, low tide and kelp, but rode high and got a few before dark. I followed up today and got some fun waves at First Bowl, Second Bowl, and Tiburones. The swell before the swell is always sweet. The news is probably out, and the Internet swell is around the corner. Tonight the buoys show 2 feet at 14 seconds from 205.

1 October – Quickly – surfed the Steps; the news is out. Buoys showed mixed swell with the strength coming from a groundswell at 4.3 feet at 14 seconds from 280. It translated into waist to slightly overhead surf – a little slow at the shoulder, but fun. Supposedly more to come – masses too. Biden imPalined tomorrow. I’m going to watch a surf video – how about it DYSM?

2 October – Just five waves. Surfed Segundo Bol shoulder to just overhead. Swell seemed steep with the swell skimming past the reef providing peaky waves with all sorts of shoulder. It was windy and the weather was just waiting to go from fall to winter, At the same time it was warm and muggy. Buoys showed two swells. One from the south, 2.1 feet at 17 seconds from 200; the other was 6.5 feet at 10 seconds from 265. The masses sensed the bounty; and when I was leaving an entourage of pros had arrived. I knew the mayhem was about to begin.

3 October – Surfed Tiburones in the late afternoon. The west swell was dying, and an underlying south swell was providing support. Got a few fun ones, but critical length was quickly achieved as masses left their other pursuits. I took my leave.

4 October – No surf for me today; football was my day. Zealand told me it was small and crowded, and my first look at the buoys suggested this was so. Yes, it’s true, I never saw the ocean myself all day. I’m talking about a virtual surf check. Anyway, 11.4 feet at 14 seconds from 280.

“An American member of al-Qaida pointed to economic troubles in the United States as proof that "the enemies of Islam" face defeat” – A page out of the Ronny Regan cold war playbook?
Drill, Baby, Drill – I heard them. Drilling is safer now with the advances in technology. Heck, even the fish like the drilling platforms. Drilling off the coasts will not cause environmental damage. Wait – this just in - Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data. They’re just fucking liars. Period. Smoking doesn’t cause health problems either.

6 and 7 October – Didn’t get to surf the weekend – but had great fun with my brood at the football matches. Got back to surf on Monday and Tuesday, had fun in the water, and felt like I didn’t miss a thing. Good First and Second Bowl at just overhead to chest high. And the Humpback whales clearing the water just outside, unreal.

I’m frustrated hearing people say that the O-job hasn’t articulated his plans, like there is enough time in a question and answer debate or quick campaign stop. Plus, time is required to digest. How about a webpage with the details - http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ - and McCain – I mean equal time - http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/. The difference between the two are exposed by just considering the issues listed – check it yourselves.

8 October to date - the surf disappeared only to make a quick reappearence today. Critical legnth was a factor, as well as the kooks claiming "I and I didn't see you". But they couldn't bring down a beautiful day. How about SeaGreen out in the surf ?

One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)  ¶ 9:19 PM 0 comments