Fogust

July 23 – the buoys indicate the swell is building – 2 feet at 14 seconds from 205 at Harvest, 1.8 feet at 14 seconds from 200 at Monterey, and 1.4 feet at 14 seconds from 200 at Point Reyes. Similarly, the anticipation of the “big swell” is rising as the Internet informs the masses. As usual, the swell is supposed to show on the weekend. Meanwhile, I’m headed off to Lake Tahoe for my niece’s wedding; I’m sure you guys won’t miss me.

July 25 – beautiful day at Lake Tahoe – and I received a text message stating the following: “the waves are FIRING”. Enticed, I checked the buoys. 4.3 feet from 195 at 17 seconds – yes, these are the right numbers. Hope you guys are having fun – I am. Home the 26th - surfed the evening session - I didn't recognize anyone in the water and the crowd was unruly; and it was even worse on Monday.

Surf picked up yesterday – August 2, 2009. I ushered in the swell with a LB session at Tiburones with Willie - great LB prospect with good vibe. Today got the SB out and raced a couple at the Cut-Away. Wow, Terry, Rene, Willie, and other notable LB rippers were out – but they let me have a few. Boyz – lets keep the critical length in check.

Today, August 10, 2009, the latest week-plus of south swell has abated. It was yet another good pulse with an equally good direction. Surf ranged from waist high to overhead, and that same wind-blown high tide window I utilized during the last swell came through again. Ask Rach-el – we shared a narrow window with a few of the crew and left smiling. Water was nice, and for some reason, the fog didn’t realize it was Fogust. I surfed Tiburones almost exclusively, with a few days of 2nd Bowl. I admit, there were a couple of days where the critical length was beyond the upper limit, and the operators were dreaming. Nothing was more spectacular than watching Buddy T-bone an unsuspecting novice going straight. I was paddling out after catching a slider at 2nd Bowl, watching up the line. Buddy was on his Taky in trim going as fast as the glide would take him. In front of him, some woman took off, transitioned from her knees into a stinkbug stance, and was heading straight for the beach. Without even trying to slow, Buddy took her out – Rugby style – Ronnie Lott in his heyday. The woman was lifted a few feet over the water surface while her board and Buddy’s made love – surfboard intercourse. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The woman appeared unscathed and left the water – probably went straight home. Buddy went to the beach to regroup – the Mayor was entertaining in the office. I took my next wave in just for a quick interview. “Buddy, what were you thinking?” “I don’t know” A quick look at his board revealed an absence of a side fin and cracked FCS plugs. Maybe it was like what happened to me the other day. Health insurance?

It’s the accumulation of all the drop-ins, paddle-arounds, and interference presented by limited resources, too many people, and too little experience. You snap – and it might not have been the most heinous infraction of the day. So it happened to me when a local kid, who should have known better, dropped in on me while I was speeding down the line at the Cut-Away. I let out a “what the heck” and he replied, “this is a longboard spot.” That sent me into a full over pressurization of the gasket – in other words, I blew a gasket – I went ballistic – I blew a fuse – I opened the hatch. “WHAT?” I spouted as I went slack-jawed. “You’re yelling at a kid,” he calmly stated. A minute ago he was my equal in the water telling me I was surfing a LB spot on a SB – what an idiot, then he’s claiming child status. I paddled back to the bowl bewildered. Rick was sitting on his board chuckling. Fuck!

Picture it: Thank you SB and friend for the look. The advertised swell at Fullers - a magic place - a south swell magnet. Redwoods and cliffs, a steep hike, and a small creek empties into the water right in front of the break. A geologic-scale landslide created the reef. Back in the day (1976?), a spring storm dumped a load of 2" x 12" lumber off a barge and a bunch washed up on the beach at Fullers. The carpenters among us built a deck that straddled the mouth of the creek and looked out over the peak. One side had a 45 degree leaning wall for sunning, there were benches all the way around, and a nice set of wide stairs led from the beach to the floor of the deck. The creek flowed beneath the deck and at the rear of the deck was the waterfall to rinse in. It was a cool spot for a summer –the following winter waves wiped it from existence.

Condensed Conservative View: We had thought the role of government was to set rules for honest private competition, which does keep prices down and improve products (What a joke – look at the economy, the corporate scams, Enron, banks, savings and loans, militaryindustrial complex, silenced whistleblowers, Blackwater, no-bid contracts – the list is endless). And there are reforms that could improve the important rule-setting role government should play, and could increase private competition and transparency (Transparency – novel concept, never happen because an informed public would get rid of the lot – except for that portion of the informed public that conform to SPB) .

Instead, the socialists want to create a massive and unfunded new entitlement that would limit patient choices, ration care, and bankrupt the Treasury (A. Many countries have government organized health care and do fine, B. the militaryindustrial complex is taxing the treasury, along with corporate socialism, C. choices are limited and care is rationed – what can you afford, D. unfunded? – I’m going to pay one way or another – now, I pay Blue Shield, Wells Fargo, taxes directed toward social services, Longs, pharmaceutical companies, medical services providers, and doctors – gee, is there any room for savings, and E. imagine the leverage a united public would have). The Democrats' plan would force everyone into the system through an individual mandate and lead employers to drop their health coverage (As an employer, I’ve seen coverage increase 30% a year – I used to pay the full health care amount for employees (10 years ago – now we can’t afford to and keep rates competitive); their new public insurance plan would then price private insurers out of the game and attract the refugees from private coverage into the public system (so fucking what – the leeches and mosquitoes can die). All of this would put us well on the road to government-run health care (so fucking what?). Clearly the point is to use the power of the government (the power of negotiation where the American public is represented as one huge heath care recipient union) to impose price controls and override state rules in order to undersell private insurers (why the fuck not). The public plan is a gradual path to single payer health care, aimed at moving American health care in a European or Canadian direction (so fucking what). "The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers (I do not need a choice of leeches, mosquitoes, or tics – they are all the same – looking to suck blood)," the AMA said, and the requirements of such a plan would severely burden doctors (force them into a market place where they get paid a reasonable rate?) and "would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers. (Corporate socialism isn’t, world military isn’t?)" Government financing of coverage and for the rationing of care such a move would require (on what basis? Rationing? What do insurance companies do). There are many other strong reasons for stopping a plan that would cost at least $1.5 trillion, create a huge and growing new entitlement without paying for it (who said no one would pay for it – what do we pay for now – we spend the most on health care of any nation, and we have some of the poorest health), impose great financial burdens on employers and individuals, displace millions of families who are happy with their existing health care arrangements, lead to increasing rationing of care, and do very little else to control health care costs (fear mongering).

A lot of hot air misinformation and fabrication; how can anybody make a proper decision? Why are we kept in the dark? Where is the thoughtful analysis of all alternatives that focus on the people and leaves FedCorp behind? Profit is all that matters - "Their average profit per person may not be as high, but they still should be able to earn a profit by insuring more people."

Someone called me on my lack of comment regarding the erosion out-of-control along the point. True. In fact, I’m feeling pretty rolled over concerning a great many things. Locally – gang violence, school funding, elected officials gone wild, business over people, water, habitat, and – over fishing. State – budget madness, IOUs – can I get paid – the governor and legislature is. Federal – O-lame-a, more war, corporate socialism – public capitalism, health flare, money for guns, and unconditional support for Israeli ass holes. I am angry, frustrated, and disillusioned. That said – I have recently crawled into my hole – surf, work, family and friends. Lets see how the stabilization pans out – as long as it does not cause reflection, it surely will not mean the loss of sand movement. In a few years, it will all be forgotten, and only us old timers will reflect on what used to be; like many other things. But wait – the more I thought about it, the more I saw the whole thing in terms of land grab – an extension of the primitive accumulation of wealth.

For me, land grab encompasses a whole host of activities that both the state and individuals are engaged in. Land grab is usually focused on gaining resources (wealth) or some strategic position that provides control and power over the masses. Examples abound throughout history. Take for instance the Mexican – American war. Really just a pretext to take Mexico’s land and gain access to resources and the Pacific Ocean (strategic). Of course, the Spanish took the land from the native peoples – and we really do not fully understand who took what when North America was inhabited. How about the Iraq war? Was it just a pretext to solidify our claim to oil and/or westernize the Middle East and create in our own image of consumerism? In the case of the cliffs, land grab (resource grabbing from the ocean) was instigated by private entities that had already accumulated (home owners and businesses that count on the existing environment for wealth and accumulation of wealth) and the state (interest in tax revenue – a resource). These two are powerful allies when their interests are aligned – just as is the case in many land grab affairs – the state and private entities - Corpgov. The results of this land grab will include stability of bluffs and property values, stability and likely increases in property tax revenue, easy access for the masses, increased tourism and associated chamber of commerce delights, parking meters, refugee rats, loss of vole habitat, a change in the view from the water, possible enhancement of wave reflection back into the lineup, and….Maybe you can think of some other consequences. As far as the migration of sand, I’m not sure. Does the ragged nature of an unstable bluff environment help to trap sand as it moves along its coastal migration patterns from water basin to the ocean?

And the health care industry is behind reform – why? More consumers. It's all got to do with shifts in the economy. Even before the recession hit, employer-sponsored health coverage had been steadily shrinking, and many people couldn't afford the premiums for individual policies. Meanwhile, government programs have been expanding — and they've gotten increasingly friendly to private insurance companies. Insurers now play major roles as middlemen in Medicare, Medicaid and the children's insurance program. And if the government requires everybody to get coverage — just what the overhaul legislation calls for — it could guarantee a steady stream of customers subsidized by taxpayers not only for insurers, but also for all medical providers.

The party that wants to keep going - drug companies, insurers, hospitals, medical supply firms, health service companies and other health professionals. Hey – I know we can’t have a Corpgov insurance program because it will run the insurance companies out of business (oh fuck!), but don’t the people in government – like senate and house folks – get a government health plan? I don’t here them complaining. I remember something about Corpgov offering the same program they themselves get. Now I hear silence.  ¶ 5:35 PM 0 comments