Balance

Which one is it - the nightmare or the wet dream? Probably a little bit of both on any given day. Just like anything else - balance - Some days I find it. Most days I don't.

The latest push for peace in the middle east - On the Israeli side, Clinton has indicated that they have eased Palestinians' freedom of movement and expressed a willingness to curtail the building of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian areas – translated: business as usual, so what do the Palestinians gain in negotiating – keep reading. The Obama administration, however, is demanding an end to all new settlement construction, something that the Israelis have refused – sound familiar? After her meeting with Abbas in Abu Dhabi, Clinton was headed for Jerusalem for talks that were expected to include not only Netanyahu but also his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Here is the punch line - Lieberman suggested recently the Israelis and Palestinians come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure stability, while at the same time putting off a final deal. Notice – “long term deal” and “putting off” – how long has it been already, and what will change? Game plan: in the long term the land grab will be complete and the Palestinian Reservation system established. I mean, check this statement - Lieberman has recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes in the conflict — "to a much later stage." Why not just say it – “later”.

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended. How does this definition compare and contrast with the mission statement for the US? That mission statement reads: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Lets look at each objective of the mission statement.

Form a more perfect union. Sounds socialist just saying it. Of course, a perfect union suggests equality – equal access to resources and benefits of those resources; access to health. My wife and many like her would say a perfect union means sharing – at least with respect to marriage and the family. On the other hand, some argue the market will create the perfect union and there is no need for government to be involved in creating a perfect union – i.e. regulate access to resources and benefits of those resources so that the welfare of citizens are equally enhanced. How so? Self-interest and the profit motive can better protect from market excess (move away for the perfect union) than regulations. Self-interest, profit motive, and perfect information will allow citizens to maximize their welfare. Thus, no need for socialism to force the issue. Two points of view, and the Constitution allows for that. Some think government is necessary to secure welfare for all; some think the invisible hand of the market will secure welfare for all. More likely, aspects of both schools of thought are necessary to form a more perfect union. The need for security, safety, and health are reasons for forming a union. Working together to accomplish what one cannot do alone is another reason for forming a union. Trade to focus skills and enhance the welfare of market participants – under the umbrella of the perfect union – secure, safe, and healthy.

Establish justice. We have equal justice for all – or so it is said. Publicly administered and equally allocated. Socialism. But wait – how does the market, self-interest, and the profit motive fit in? Some judges are elected (the invisible hand at work), there is a wide gap between the skills and motivation between public defenders, district attorneys (future politicians), and market-based lawyers, and the administration of justice varies with wealth. What would seemingly be a pure socialistic aspect of government is tainted with the finest aspects of capitalism. For the wealthy and corporations, it is socialism; for the rest it’s capitalism.

Insure domestic tranquility, Provide for common defense, Promote the general welfare. These all seem to be flavors of socialism. The government of the people, the perfect union, working to provide the benefits of tranquility, common defense, and general welfare to all its citizens; equal access to tranquility, common defense, and general welfare; definitely tastes like socialism. To provide for tranquility, common defense, and general welfare, the government – local, state, and federal – through our tax dollars (definitely socialism) provides police, fire protection, the military-industrial complex, social security, medicare, and parks and sanctuaries to name a few – there’s more. In further support of this notion, consider a capitalistic approach to the provision of tranquility, common defense, and general welfare. I guess with tranquility and general welfare, the capitalistic approach is top gun in the US (health care debacle), but what about a level of defense you can pay for – the invisible hand optimizing your welfare. You call the police, and they ask for your dreadit card number – or you call fly-by-night security – or you hop down to the Home Depot to pick up a day laborer?

Secure the blessings of liberty. Is our liberty a function of the socialist nature of the US, the capitalist nature, or both? Let’s look abroad. France, we are told, is very socialist – do they enjoy a lower level of liberty? Like anything else – it’s a balance of socialism and capitalism that seems to work. Those that like to have it in black and white need to go natural – check quantum mechanics, fuzzy logic, and fractals – it’s just not that way.

Regarding renewing the peace process, the Prime Minister of Israel stated the Palestinians never before entered into negotiations with a precondition (freeze settlement building). The response, from the US: “What the Prime Minister is saying is historically accurate.” So fucking what – now the Palestinians are looking after their interests? And this coming from the kings of preconditions? So, if we are getting into historical accuracy, lets look at it in total. Lets start with the concept forwarded by the Zionists that there was nobody in Palestine when they started taking over. So now, the US says - "We recognize that things have stalled. We're looking at a variety of ways that increase the interaction between the parties in some form." Gee – why not be an honest broker and call it like it is – like the rest of the globe sees it. Otherwise, forget it.

It’s been flat except for a small long period swell that filled in for a few days during the first week of November. The weather was sweet, and if you could surf in the narrow window between tide and kelp, there were some fun ones. I couldn’t swing the window, but caught the peripheral period just as the window was closing. Took my new-used LB for a glide – a hand-me-down from Kid-darrio. The plank rides real stable and I got some fun tip rides that ended too soon in shallow closeouts. Fearing I would be taking a trip to Ralph’s after an encounter with the bottom, I left before my thirst was quenched. Rumors of a swell from the northwest abound, and the swell model shows there will be a steep swell by the weekend. With the Cold Water in town, it may be possible to get some waves before the masses get finished with their pro fix. While I haven’t ventured over to the Lane to check the proceedings, pictures and video I reviewed verified there was some serious ripping going down.

A much-anticipated swell started to show on Friday, November 6, 2009. The swell had a good westerly component on Friday, so the Steps and the Cave had some good shape, with head-high sets. Most of the boyz I spoke with were still looking to Saturday for the “big swell.” Well, sure enough – 18.6 feet from 305 at 17 seconds – mixed for most of the day with a high tide that peaked above 6 feet. It’s a beautiful day with a moderate wind out of the northeast – just about offshore. A lot of water is moving down the point and the waves at the Steps and beyond are oriented almost sideways to the coast. My plan is to wait for the tide to start sucking out, and catch it at about 4 feet and falling. We shall see.

Well, everybody on the planet had the same plan – dude, seriously. I wasn’t out but 30 minutes when I turned around and there were a hundred guys in the water. From Tiburones to the Gate there were a hundred guys. I mean it was hundreds of guys. It was all too much for me and I quickly started looking for a way out. I took off on an inside bowl, but was thwarted by four guys in front of me – I went straight – and then went straight into the beach. Wow – I didn’t know that many people could fit in the ocean.

In fact - The US is the only industrialized democracy that does not ensure that all of its citizens have health care coverage. However, Washington spends vastly more on healthcare - both per person and as a share of national income as measured by Gross Domestic Product - than other industrialized democracies.

A new report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates sea lions ate 4,960 salmon and steelhead during the spring of 2009 — 2.4 percent of the fish passing the dam located near Cascade Locks, Ore. That compares to an adjusted estimate of 4,927, or 2.9 percent of the run, in 2008. We are down to counting the salmon run loss to natural predators in the thousands. Think about that. Back in the day, before dams and with open waterways, the sea lions probably didn’t even make a dent. Sea lions, birds, bears, osprey, eagles, raccoons, native tribes, and more – there were plenty of fish. Salmon season has been closed for two years for SF Bay salmon, and sea lions are a problem in the Columbia River. Maybe we are better disrupting natural processes than putting them right. And we worry about the sea lions. There’s more – “a report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that removing the sea lions doing the most damage saved some 1,655 salmon. Department spokesman Rick Hargrave said the hazing and removal of California sea lions will continue next year with few changes. One difference will be trying to block areas near the dam where the sea lions can get out of the water to rest.” Wow – 1,655 salmon saved – impressive. Reminds me of the successes boasted by the “war on drugs” folks. Indeed, why change what works so well. Merge the two programs - Drug and Seal Enforcement Agency - DSEA.

Sunday, Cold Water Classic Weekend turned out to be the most crowded I can ever recall. I bagged Sunday after driving by the Point and seeing half the human race tipping the coast of Santa Cruz a couple inches lower into the Pacific, and twice that many rising the surface water elevation. Fortunately, Monday dawned with smaller waves and less humanity by orders of magnitude. I surfed Segundo Bol and got some fun ones. Thank goodness people have somewhere else to live.

“A new report by the Center for Responsive Politics has found that 237 members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body. California Republican Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker with a net worth estimated at just over $250 million. At least seven lawmakers have a net worth greater than $100 million.” Now, is this representation? Does this lend credibility to the phrase “Congress is out of touch”? Unfuckingbelieveable.

Again, I consider the preamble the mission statement for the US government, and I use it as a first principle to argue that one of the purposes of government to assist in health care. I believe that some brilliant people (founders) took quite a bit of time preparing a mission statement to guide their endeavors at the time, and the endeavors of future citizens. Very simple, and yet very powerful. And the link to health care - consider the words: Form a more perfect union - a group of people free of the burden of worrying about health care can more easily work toward being a perfect union. Establish justice - is it not justice that all citizens have equal opportunity to obtain health care? Insure domestic tranquility - Can one be tranquil when one is stressing over health care, worrying about financial consequences, or left at the whim of insurance corporations where profit is considered over human beings? Good health is tranquility. Promote general welfare - the health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group - the definition says it all. Finally, secure the blessings of liberty - health and security of health is liberty - liberty from worrying about health, liberty to consider other endeavors, liberty from pain, liberty to live. In all, five out of the six objectives (common defense not necessarily relevant) in the mission statement pertain to the government's responsibility in health care.

Surf started to show Wednesday out of the northwest. Surfed the Steps just after high tide and got some fun ones before masses and kelp shut down the fun. Thursday, it was more of the same – a few waves and plenty of my friends. Surfed one down to Tiburones and stayed for a couple. On the paddle back from a small wave that took me into the cove, I looked up into the sun and saw what looked like the style master cruising toward me, but he looked a little rusty – like the tin man after a rain. I kept my eyes on him, and sure enough – it was the tin --- I mean style master. You know, life gets a little busy, the winter breeze isn’t so conducive, and there are plenty of chores to do around the house. So, you skip a couple days. A couple days turns into two weeks, and next thing you know, you forgot you surfed. You see your quiver, go by the Point, hear from the boyz, or, my gosh, check the Internet, and then remember – I surf. To verify this realization, you paddle out – but it’s not easy to dust off the cobwebs, oil the joints, find your rhythm, or find that lost step. The crew checks your first couple of waves and even they get caught wondering if you surf. You realize that if you don’t pull it together quickly, you will be crossed off the list – the list we all keep regarding our mates – you know – ah, he can’t surf, I’m going – that list. Anyway, while you appear rusty, the crew gives you the benefit of the doubt, and you end up pulling it together before you leave the water. As you walk up the beach, you remind yourself you need to get out more often – but shit, it’s getting a cold. See ya in the water Tin Man.

And the great economist said, “I no longer belief the myth that self-interest and the profit motive can better protect from market excess than regulations.”

Took a glide right before dark – it was all right, if not for the kelp – but Willie saw perfection in the glassy conditions and I took it at face value. Today, I got a quick Segundo Bol session in. Tide was coming in and a couple of sets got pushed through. It was fun, but even at the higher tide, kelp was an issue. A couple of rippers were out, but it was more inspiration and less a lockdown of the lineup. One of the rippers – compact and powerful, was, as usual, taking off 10 yards outside of my position, and even if I thought he wouldn’t be able to paddle in – he did. My gosh – I’m impressed. But, that didn’t stop me from considering what popped into my head as a perfect nickname for him – Longboard. Yes, he rides short boards, and rides them very well – but he’s like an LB that takes off 20 yards outside of where your sitting, paddling feverishly by you while you watch the bowl pass you by. Longboard – I nickname you with all due respect.

Final Word:
What is money? Go here and learn - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8&feature=fvw  ¶ 12:22 AM