Airbnb and VRBO impacts on California coastal housing pricing and inventory.

James Rainy wrote an excellent story about the culture clash occurring between young and old California liberals over the housing market.  My letter to him is below the story link.  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-s-housing-crunch-has-turned-liberals-against-one-another-n851401 

Jim, your story about California’s housing crunch ​turning liberals against one another is one of the most informative and balanced articles about housing that I have ever seen.

I moved to San Diego in 1984, lived there until 2001, when we moved to the North Shore of Oahu. We lived there until 2008 then moved back to San Diego​.  We've owned and developed real estate in both extraordinarily expensive places.  FYI, I’m multi race 59 years old and own a home near Windansea Beach in La Jolla CA.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmichealdowd/

I wanted to share with you one additional market change/distortion, that is also pitting like-minded groups against one another in the same communities and affecting the price and inventory of housing. 

VRBO and Airbnb ​are severely impacting the housing inventory and pricing in coastal California.

Long story short, the number of short term rental units is keeping homes in the hands of owners who in the past would have sold them. Those short term rentals are in highly desirable neighborhoods and are causing higher prices and lower for sale inventory.  For example in San Diego, Pacific Beach and Mission Beach are traditionally young people communities.  In Mission Beach, it is estimated that 50% of the homes there are short term rentals.  San Diego has the nation’s highest percentage of​ "single family"​ homes that are being rented.   The beach areas are getting very expensive and the demographic of owners who live there full time is rapidly getting older.  Short term rentals have diminished inventory and churn of property in San Diego beach communities.  Once again, those who owned ​homes there have experienced a windfall opportunity in holding on to the property because long term rents have skyrocketed along with short term rates and prices have gone up at a much higher percentage in a shorter period of time than inland areas.  

So the “haves” want short term rentals that they currently own, the have-nots want short term rentals gone so those units will go back in to the long term rental and owner inventory. The move up beach neighborhoods have gotten so expensive that people can no longer afford them, which then impacts the 1st and 2nd  ​ ​"move up" ​home buyers because their inventory has shrunk.

I estimate that if short term rentals were eliminated that we could see a 10 - 20% increase in owner occupied and purchased homes in San Diego beach communities. That is enough to really impact pricing and would trigger changes throughout the entire housing supply chain.  This is an opinion, but I do have a basis for it. 

I would guess the same situations are occurring in LA, San Francisco and other California communities that also have a large number of visitors.

So I would add short term rentals to the stew of controversy that you have identified..

Put a new San Diego stadium at Riverwalk (My LTTE to the San Diego UT)

Thank you UT San Diego for having a voice and taking a stance. I strongly believe that a new stadium is a significant benefit for San Diego.  As a local advertising, marketing and PR professional for 30 + years, the often overlooked value of our stadium are the impressions and the media exposure (advertising, in game, PR,) that events here make for our tourism industry and our general economy.  Imagine viewing late season football, playoffs, NCAA Bowls and Super Bowl games all shown from our beautiful, warm, welcoming city while you are literally freezing.

The doomsayers/naysayers/wet blanket no public money crowd will squawk, But I ask, why are cities across the country building stadiums for sports?  I believe that they realize sports teams, collegiate and professional, add to the quality of life for literally millions of people in a metro area.  Sport teams are a unifying point.  The market and desire for building stadiums and arenas is strong everywhere in the USA.  Most importantly, for San Diego, this is a marketing opportunity.

That said, I believe a potential site for a stadium has been overlooked.  It's hard to believe such a large parcel of land has not been considered but I have not seen it mentioned anywhere.

The option is Riverwalk Golf Course (sorry San Diego golfers).  While the property does not have the symmetry of the current stadium footprint, I believe that the acreage is similar, if not larger.  The trolley runs through the center of the property.  There is a need to do some flood mitigation work in that area and that could be done in conjunction with the project. It would also allow for work to be done to extend the public access trail system along the San Diego River further west from the current terminus.  Golf course land is not currently very expensive so the price to acquire the land should not be prohibitive.  I believe an exclusive access lane/road/exit could be built on the site from the current south bound 163, west bound 8 Hotel Circle North exit.  There is conceivably access from I-5 as well (I’m a Cal Trans believer).  Yes traffic would still be bad on game days, but that is inevitable and expected anywhere and in just about every other city that has a stadium.  There is a built in destination before and after the games with the Mission Valley malls within easy walking distance.  It is only about a mile as the crow flies to Old Town from there as well. 

Thank you for considering my idea.

Sorry Chris Kluwe fans, he's playing us and is a hypocrite.

Chris Kluwe calls out the coaches of the Vikings and says that they are cowards for 

#1 not standing up for what was right or 

#2 because they were afraid that if they did the right thing, their careers would be in jeopardy. 

I'll give Chris credit for taking a stance while he was a player. His statements and Comic Con lifestyle created buzz, was covered by many media outlets and made him the most covered punter in the NFL. His high profile lead to massive media attention including gigs writing for multiple media outlets including Sports Illustrated. 

After the Vikings, Chris was cut by the Oakland Raiders this Fall. He lost his job to a young, black punter with a stronger leg and was significantly less money. Chris went through the year, hoping to get back in to the NFL as a punter while keeping up his media profile. 

By the end of the year it became obvious that he was done - he's old (by NFL standards), expensive, marginally productive and ...yes ...controversial. 

So he calls Viking coach Leslie Frazier and GM Rick Spielman cowards because they wanted to lay low to presumably to protect their employment. But he only decides to write the article (which he acknowledges with kill any chance of a career) AFTER he and the entire football world comes to the conclusion that he will never play in the NFL again anyway. 

Therefore, he has nothing else to lose and he has no employment to jeopardize. By writing this well timed, post season, playoffs atmosphere, NFL withdrawal period article his "courage", celebrity and media desirability will be enhanced more than any other NFL player's calculated, post career spin campaign. 

He will get praises for the article, but how do you not see the hypocrisy? 

This smells like a very calculated self promotion.

The Vancouver Hockey Riots, Ben Johnson and my 2nd favorite city in the world..

Vancouver is my 2nd favorite city in the world, San Diego is my first.

I was in Seoul for the Olympics in 1988. While there I ran in to a Canadian journalist 3 times. Each conversation was a revelation for me, maybe for him.

The first time was early in the trip. Our conversation revolved around his contention that Americans were overly jingoistic. Americans were crazy emphatic about their country. They waved flags, wore their colors, were loud and overly proud. The underlying message was that Americans were scary, simplistic and embarrassingly patriotic. He thought that they were basically simple, stupid, mind numbed robots.

My explanation to him has (in my mind) proved to be incredibly prescient. I said, the Americans were not overly crazed about their country or athletes. As a matter of fact, in most instances we cared for our athletes and their performance much less than other countries. Brazil, Jamaica, Japan being just a few examples.

My point was American fans in Korea wanted to get on TV. Period.

American fans knew that if they wore their colors, went crazy, showed a sign that displayed NBC's letters or logo in some creative way, their friends and family would see them on TV from Korea. I said the American fan's ardor and passion were not signs of war mongering loyalty, they just were more media savvy and knew how to get noticed to get on television.

The Canadian journalist's reaction was perplexed. I think he thought I was smart and even tempered. I think he had a bit of a revelation and thought maybe this guy is right for SOME of the crazy Yankees. We toasted and parted.

The next time I saw him, (there were only so many bars to go to in Itaewon), Ben Johnson had won the 100 meter dash earlier in the day. He was about as pumped as the StayPuft dude in the last scene of Ghostbusters. A CANADIAN had won the 100 (IMO, a black, expat Jamaican, but whatever). He was buying drinks, woo hooing and having a great time. A sports fanatic knows what it's like when YOUR team wins. He was feeling it BIG TIME, +patriotism, + Canadian pride, +++ alchohol, +++ fellow Canadians. He was having a big, big night and I had a great time with the whole gang.

I think it was a day or two later, but I saw him the night they stripped Ben Johnson of his gold medal for testing positive for steroids. There are events that "legitimately" crush your spirit. They usually involve a real tragedy. You lose a love, a relative dies, your dog of 14 years passes, you get fired after 22 years, divorce, etc.

My Canadian journalist was inconsolable. He was crushed by something that many reasonable people would say he was crazy for even caring about in the first place. Examples include Red Sox fans before 2004, Ohioans after "The Decision", Cub fans and Skynard fans when they don't play "Freebird".

My Canadian journalist crashed, burned and flamed. For those two days HE was the crazy American he had contempt for. His joy in Ben Johnson was justified, righteous and superior because an underdog Canadian had WON. The highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

The Vancouver hockey riots reminded me of that Canadian journalist. The collective embarrassment of the Canadian media and citizens is like the crash of a 4 year old after an unlimited spree of Skittles and Red Vines. Canadians just are not like Americans. With stuff like this they are, well, just better than that.

The Vancouver citizens rioted because they were drunk, experienced in riots from the Olympics & that Global Capitalist meeting a few years ago, were sports heart broken, pride wounded, pissed off, without adult (police) supervision and it seemed like fun & good idea at the time.

Basically they rioted for the same reasons we celebrate/riot here in the USA - our teams win/lose or we kill Osama Bin Laden.

Our Canadian brothers and sisters are not better, worse or different than we are.

I love them even more for it.

I love it that President Obama golfs a lot.

I love it that our President Obama golfs a lot.

The fact that President Obama plays and loves the game I love makes me proud to be a golfer.

When I get a chance to play I play on San Diego courses, I pay $30 at Coronado, $29 at Balboa, $42 at Torrey Pines and $25 at some other courses. If I play twilight, I can pay less than $20 and often get in 18 holes. I always walk, so I do not pay cart fees.

The idea that golfers are all rich, country clubbers is one the most ignorant stereotypes that exist in the USA. I meet varied denizens of San Diego every color, creed, gender, sexual preference and income. I've made really good friends with people I have met on the course that I do other things with. I've met people who I enjoy golfing with because they share my love of the game, but off the course they are jerks and I'll have nothing to do with them.

Golf is a great physical challenge, it is hard to play well. Golf is decent exercise if you walk. Here in San Diego, golf is a beautiful experience, some times spiritual - Torrey Pines at sunset for example. For me, it is a contemplative, competitive, thought provoking sport/game/hobby/passion.

I think golf helps our President mentally. I am all for him playing as often as he can. My dream would be to join him, kick his butt and collect a few skins in the process.

My comment about hurricane possibility article in San Diego.

I read this story a week ago, it is really stupid and ill conceived.I lived in Honolulu and now San Diego, 1 and 2 on the list. Every USA coastal city and town in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Atlantic should be listed ahead of San Diego and Honolulu even if they got hit by a hurricane yesterday.The warmest the Pacific on the West Coast will likely get in at least the next 10 years is maybe 75 degrees and that temperature might last for about a week. That plus the jet stream out here with the high altitude winds that shear off the tops of hurricanes make the likelihood of a Category 1 or higher storm hitting San Diego about 0.

Honolulu' odds are higher, but Pacific hurricanes are so much more random in motion than the Atlantic spawned storms. Their erratic motion, plus they have to get past the cold water east of Hawaii makes a Category 1 or higher storm hitting Oahu much lower than any US East Coast city in August or September. But, for any place in Hawaii, like any place on the East Coast of the USA, the danger is real.

For San Diego, we should not waste our time worrying about hurricanes. That guy should get his license and ability to write stupid stories like his revoked.

We are not going to run out of fresh drinking water.

Some technologies that could be used to mitigate future waters shortages and water wars.

Down-welling/Aquifer replenishment - take water when there is an excess i.e. this year from the river floods and pump it down in to the aquifers and wells we have. Yeah I know, the filtration process of the earth purifies the water so we might be polluting the aquifers and wells, how about we start with the dried up and polluted aquifers that currently exist.

Massive storage - when you are storing something thing that is non toxic, you can build flimsy, cheap storage vehicles. If one breaks, crakes, fails patch it or leave it. These can be above or below ground (better) think that Saudi Arabia or other oil rich, water poor countries can't build massive storage reserviours.?

Desalination - rising oceans from global warming, massive desalination to create water supplies that will keep ocean levels consistent

Ice and water mining - glaciers melting? Build massive ships that can move water from point A to point B. Again, since we are building ships to move a non toxic material, who cares about double hulls and other safety features. Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Norway can become the new Saudi Arabia.

Pipelines - Now build massive pipelines that move this water from Point A to Point B. For example, it is relatively flat from the Mississippi accross the fruited plain going west. Why not build really big pipes to take all that excess water west to our farm lands where they can use or store it? Pipes spring leak, no big deal. In our country we can use rail and freeway right of ways to run the pipes on the surface. Same elsewhere

New reservoirs - think like the Chinese. Build new reservoirs and pipe systems distribution systems. A big pipe system right down I-5 to take water from the Pacific Northwest to LA baby.

My comment about Augusta National article from Joe Posnanski

Joe, I believe you give Augusta no chance at innocence based upon your words - "I REALLY don’t want them (your daughters) to be members of Augusta National. A ludicrously rich group of men will not invite a ludicrously rich woman to join their ludicrously exclusive club with its shameful history of denying anyone even slightly different?” You suffer from pure financial/class envy. Augusta hires Pinkerton Guards (yes I know the labor history of the Pinkertons). Maybe one of these contractors made a mistake, was not informed, or even acted maliciously. You give that no credence and automatically attack Augusta and the wealthy. You, Barak Obama and many Liberals believe being very rich is “ludicrous” and a negative to society. With the exception of inherited wealth, I believe the vast majority people in this country earned their riches legally, ethically and the accumulation of their wealth did not get taken away but rather benefitted many, many people. Finally, you have no idea if Augusta has or does not have female members. Their membership is private. I strongly believe that Augusta already has female members but do not feel it necessary to disclose that. Wouldn’t it be ironic to you and Martha Burke if Sandra Dey O'Conner, Condoleezza Rice and other prominent female golfers already are members? Perhaps there are members who love and have contributed to golf, who have even less money than you? Capitalists who attain great wealth and in the aggregate leave the world a much better place are not "ludicrous". Your socialistic bias and petty jealously has made you a bearded, Kool-Aid drinking, bitter clinger of 60’s era left brain washing. This attitude is shared by the members of your own Augusta – the sports journalists of America are even more narrow minded than Augusta members.

John M. Dowd Response

Danny - The value of privacy to very public people is extremely valuable, Barak Obama himself says it is what he misses the most. So it is very plausible to me that a member of Augusta might not want to disclose they are a member even if it benefited the Club. The Club, I assume, does not want members who use their membership in a public manner to benefit themselves. Bottom line, we do not know who are their members and there is no benefit to Augusta to disclose it even if YOU believe you'd rather disclose than be a protest target. My point about Bill Gates is that if you are Augusta, it might be cool to let the world know Bill Gates is in your club and visa versa the fact is neither disclosed it. Lez, Mr. P specifically and vehemently identifies Augusta members a ludicrously "rich" and that is why he does want his daughters to join. I believe a contractor might have messed up. J.P assumes Augusta is guilty and ties that in with being rich. My point is that we don’t know anything, it is private. Lez, I don not listen to, watch or read Glen Beck, I am a Dittohead. J - Mr. P himself repeatedly said "ludicrously rich" was his x-factor in joining Augusta, nothing else. Therefore, my takeaway is he has a problem with the rich. I have also read his other columns and you get a sense of his core values through his writing. J, you wrote “You are beginning with a particular, biased reading of his statements." Of course I am. I am reading his article. He did not write negatively or even mention power, he only mentioned "rich". Eron, as I said before, we do not know about Augusta’s policies, you and Joe P choose to believe they are discriminatory, I choose to believe there is a possibility that you are wrong and they actually might have female members. If they invite me to join (on scholarship) and I find out there are female members, I will not tell a soul because it would be none of their business. Wanting to know is not the same as right to know. We have no right to know Augusta's business.

That said, I really enjoy reading your stories and I have nothing negative to say about your personal choice of seeking a perfect beard or maintaining a middle income lifestyle in flyover country.

My Comment Republican Mean Girls - Maureen Dowd's Column

Below is my response to Maureen Dowd's column about Republicans being "mean girls".

There is a surge of women running for office across the country who do not share Maureen's liberal/progressive, north-east mentality. They are asserting their own viewpoint and challenging feminists to decide if they are for women or just for liberal women. The same is happening with the NAACP. So far groups like NOW and the NAACP are showing low levels of tolerance if not outright hostility to people who are the right sex and color but just do not agree with them politically.

Maureen in this article lumps together many prominent Republican women who are not in lock step with 60's style feminism. I have seen this many times with liberal women who are alleged feminists. They are hostile and contemptuous of those who are on the other side of the aisle. They are the mean and intolerant ones. They sound petty, jealous, shrill and like they are deathly afraid of losing their monopoly.

Maureen, get used to it, there is a surge in women who have an opposite view of you, they can’t all be bad.

Boycott Arizona - You Will Hurt Women, Minorities and The Poor.

If the boycotts of AZ are successful, those hurt the most will be low wage workers, mainly women and minorities in the hospitality industry. These are the very people the "boycotters" are saying they are trying to protect.

The unintended consequences of "good" intentions more often than not wind up really bad.

Remember Jimmy Carter?

Profiling Is Like Privacy..."Get Over It"

According to the liberal left, we should make arresting illegal aliens who are questioned because they are usually doing something illegal, illegal?

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge proponent of immigration, immigrant rights, even mixed immigrant marriage!!! The fact that everyone in Arizona is being called racist because they want to control illegal activity that is threatening their safety is sickening.

If any of my well off friends, living in their beautiful communities had their home towns over run with illegal activity that threatened them, they would pass laws to protect their self, family and property. They would expect the police to enforce them and protect them. This is what is happening in Arizona.

I used to go to Mexico often for dinner with my father when I first moved to California in 1984. "Dad, want to go to TJ for seafood?" Out the door, in the car, 20 minutes seated, great meal, back to the border, 5-10 minutes in line, home in bed before 10.

For many San Diegans, going down to K 38 and K55 to surf for the day was the norm. The biggest complaint was that the line up got to crowded. I took my small children and Heidi to Mexico a lot. If you visited me in San Diego back then, more often than not, we took a trip to Mexico.

We do not currently go to Mexico at all right now because it is just not worth the risk. The same liberals who would not go to Mexico right now think that the bad things that happen there are not related to what happens here.

They are wrong.

Their naive, well intentioned but dangerously incompetent ideas are similar to Jimmy Carter's mindset.

Profiling people and saying they are like Jimmy Carter, now that is an insult.

The Olympics Are The Planet's Best Celebration.

I am old enough to have seen the transition from all amateurs (mostly) to all corporate. Overall, I think it is a very positive thing for the millions of athletes who fail to fulfill their dream of going to the Olympics. They win because they did dream and did try. I was a competitive swimmer growing up. From around 8-9 years old, I knew when my Olympic window was, what years and where. I did not get there. But, even paying attention, training, competing, keeping myself relatively healthy (trust me I was no monk in H.S. and after)was a good thing to go through and has been a good balance in my life. Also, for many people around the world, it is really a time to see the scope of the world we live in. The flags, foreign faces, costumes all are educational. Yeah, we should know all that stuff, but we don't. I guarantee that 99+++% of the people who watch an Opening Ceremony or any significant amount of competition learn something new and extraordinary about sport, people and places. Look at all the hope, joy and love on the young faces of the thousands of athletes who will not win gold, not get million$$$. It is the privilege of their lives just to be there. I revere the Olympic Games. They are not perfect, but they are the best thing we have in terms the celebration of the potential of humans.

My Fix For The NFL Pro Bowl.

Dear NFL,

I have the perfect, multi pronged, long term solution to your Pro Bowl challenges. I offer you these solutions to adopt with one caveat. If you choose to go down this yellow brick path that I have created for you, I have one request - I'd like to work on the event. Not a free pass, I'm not asking for full time with benefits, but a meaningful job setting all this up for you. The rest of my contribution is on me.

These are the challenges.

1. The Media Thinks The Pro Bowl Is Pinata. This is their big opportunity to show their readers that that they are not in the tank for the NFL. So, whatever you do, they get to write their annual condescending column. It's like restaurant reviewers who always beat up on the national chains. Even if they like the Pro Bowl, none of them will admit it. My solution takes care of that.
2. The Players Are Not Playing. They are coming up with reasons not to play. It is the worst case Swine Flu scenario come to life.
3. The Players Think It Is Cool Not To Play. The game has lost its MoJo.
4. The Players Families/Friends/Posse/Entourage Are Not Psyched To Go. They are not excited, motivated or interested in going to the game. It is one more chore at the end of a long grind. "I thought YOU were going to take the kids to school next week." "What do you mean you are canceling the job of being the starting gun for the Monster Truck Rally".
5. The Players That Are In The Super Bowl Are Out. This happens right now because the week before does not work and the week after is to soon. This automatically eliminates the best players, who are the most widely recognized brands from one of your marquee games.
6. The Destination Is Not A Motivator. Hawaii is something any player can do any off week of the year. The Super Bowl city rotation - B-O-R-I-N-G. The players know the towns, been there done that.
7. The Sponsors Could Use An Upgrade. The NFL does a great job with sponsors, but my proposal makes the sponsors part of the family and makes the experience WAY better.
8. The NFL Brand Gets Beat Up Locally And Generates ZERO Buzz Globally. The NFL has only have one overseas game a year.

So, here are the solutions.

• Super Size The Destination - Make the Pro Bowl an incredible once in a lifetime experience (every year) for the players, family, entourage coaches, sponsors, media and league. The reason the Pro Bowl went to Hawaii in the first place was that at one time it was a DESTINATION. Once upon a time, Pro Bowlers might not be able to afford, be willing to pay for or think it is a great reward to have a full, free, fun filled week in Hawaii. Times change. Today, NFL players that make the Pro Bowl can quit tomorrow and never work another day in their life. Let's make the Pro Bowl a dream vacation. Eye candy for the TV audiences and truly unique, once in a lifetime, inside the ropes reward for those who earn the trip.
• Invite & Pay For The Media. - Newspapers, magazines, local TV and Sports Radio are hurting. Select media representatives in NFL cities and pay for their on the ground trip plus 6 more passes for them. Even the most tight fisted Managing Editor can come up with the charter air fair. Give them access to everything on this dream trip. All of the outings, tours, dinners, practices, etc. They will have down time, encourage them to write glowing tributes to the host city and country in order to help the NFL justify the model and make sure more cities and countries bid to try and get the NFL Pro Bowl.
• Move it to Thursday Night 10 days after the Super Bowl. You want your stars to play. In order for that to happen, you have to let them heal their bodies, minds and psychs. Let them go to the parade of champions. All players go on Wed before the game, Super Bowl players and guests on Saturday before the game.
• 100 All Expenses Packages For The Players - For who ever they want to bring. This along with their extra pay day will make sure that it is really a bonus for the players. Their peers, agents, business managers and family will make sure they play. Every person who is close to them will pressure them to play because you have Super Sized The Destination.
• Copy The Olympic, US Open & Survivor Site Awarding Process - Make the Pro Bowl destination a competitive process. If the Pro Bowl can bring 25,000 - 50,000 people to a destination for a week, with all the attendant press coverage, local PR, visuals, etc. you can get countries to organize their bids and possibly augment the extra expenses that are incurred through the expanded award system for the players, sponsors and media. The focus should be on areas that the NFL want exposure in and places that the family and friends of the NFL players would absolutely not let their players say no to. Things that would offset the additional expenses for the NFL would include comp tours, hotel, meals, stadium rental, security, etc. There are a lot of concessions that the NFL can get from local governments who won't be protesting against PSLs, subsidizing stadiums, zoning laws and carbon footprints of a tailgate party. They will compete with each other and roll out the red carpet. Think taking the Super Bowl award process in turning it International.
• The Fraternity of The NFL - Whenever a group of people travel together they will for the most part bond. Most of the young NFL Pro Bowlers because of practice schedules and socio-economic circumstances did not tour Europe after their Senior year of college. For the vast majority of the players an overseas trip will be an eye opening experience. I can say the same for just about every constituent group with the exception of owners. A Super Sized Destination will really be a bonding experience for the elite of the league. Sponsors, media, other teams will get to know the young players on the trip and maybe get them thinking about what a big world this is and that there is a life to plan for after football.
• The Fans will love to watch one more game with the real stars of the NFL. Especially if the best players play, there are great stories, educational segments about foreign countries and cultures. For example, I need an excuse to turn on football during the week because of my no TV on weekdays for the kids rule.
• Start a Travel Company, Make Money off the tours. Nuff said.
• Some Locations:
• Pro Bowl Cruise - Everybody docks in a port during the day, practice, sail at night to their new destination. Game in Puerto Rico, Rome, Cairo, Honolulu, Sydney, Cape Town, Morocco, etc.
• The Base of the Pyramids in Egypt
• London, Paris, Munich everybody loves pop music.
• Rio
• The Birdsnest in Beijing
• Easter Island
• Yeah, Hawaii.
• Morocco
• Bali
• Inside the Diamond Head Crater
• Tokyo
• Korea
• Moscow
• Keep An Opt In Option For a Katrina/Haiti Type of Situation. - The best cure for a disaster is tourism. Not grants, not tax credits but old fashioned go there with a bunch of people spending.

After the Storm in Pacific Beach CA 1-22-09

This was a Friday afternoon after a week for high winds, really high surf and lots of rain. Then, the foam explosion. The dog is our pug Mochee. Kate likes the way the foam looks like the clouds in pictures 2 & 3.

Scott Brown, The New York Times & The Vast Chasm Between Right and Left.

I've been watching the Scott Brown election and noticing some very interesting explanations of his victory.

If you are on the Left - Scott Brown won because the Obama administration has not been Liberal enough. If you are on the Right - Scott Brown won because the Obama administration has been way to Liberal.

OK.

For me, the best short example of this vast discord has come from the New York Times. In an Op-Ed today they spoke of Scott Brown.

"He strives for 'total discipline' but can be prone to curious public statements ... he has fashioned a 'nice guy' image while sometimes offending ( saying, for instance, in 2001 that lesbians having children was 'not normal')".

For the record, I am in favor of gay couples being able to have the same rights as "married" couples.

But to the NY Times, Scott Brown saying Lesbians having children is not normal is akin to saying he is a reactionary, homophobic, Nazi, Fascist, war mongering, in favor of violence against women moron - (Keith Olbermann video) .

On the big planet we live on, without vast technology, money, time, laws and desire - lesbians having children is not something that happens in Haiti and most places on the planet. So, it is not "normal".

This is why the NY Times and Liberals have such a vast disconnect with people outside their demographic. For Scott Brown to say lesbians having children is not "normal" is a "normal" statement for a vast majority of people who live on this planet.

That is a simple fact.

For the NY Times to assume that a statement like that makes Scott Brown something other than a "nice guy" is out of the mainstream.

So for a person who wants responsible Republicans to once again be in charge I say to the Democrats- please, please, please follow the advice of Keith Olbermann, Racheal Madow, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, push for Health Care Reform, Cap & Trade, Climate Change legislation, Card Check, higher taxes, smaller military, Miranda rights for those who attack America, no profiling and of course much more Socialism.

GO FOR IT!!! PUSH, PUSH, PUSH THE ULTRA LIBERAL AGENDA. YOU'LL WIN.

IF YOU DON'T PUSH THE ULTRA LEFT AGENDA YOU ARE NOT NORMAL AND YOU ARE AND NOT NICE PEOPLE. GO LEFT, LEFT AND MORE LEFT FOR 2010!!!

January Weekend in San Diego

The "wall" arms linked, Allison Dowd left, teammate center, Kate Dowd on the right. 1-16-10.

I had to get up a bit early today to drive my twin girls to their soccer game this morning. Bit chilly for us 55 at 8 AM. But now I'm comfortable, windows open and we might even get some (gasp!) rain this week.

My adopted home town is playing the East Rutherford/swamp/landfill/hwy exit/Hoffa's grave Jets.

So do I go the beach, play golf, go for a hike, sun bathe, bike ride, surf or watch the game?

I remember watching these games (usually at 4 PM EST) when I was a kid in Staten Island, NY. I was an AFL fan, Jet fan. I could not get over the fact that while we were getting ice and snow cuts on our hands while playing football outside, the people on TV were in short sleeves, the sun was shining and the girls were hot (enough to wear short sleeves). I'll throw the USC and UCLA games in to the mix as well. Broadcast AFL games were probably part of the reason I am here in So Cal, chomping on fish tacos.

Happy January Sunday everyone.

Generation Look Down

We are seeing a generation that looks down and not around. They are focused on winking display screens and are missing the majestic mountains.

Is this the evolution of the television generations before them?

Are we seeing a generation that will be defined by what they watch others do on their little screens?

Is this necessarily bad?

Prime Number Family

All of my family members have prime number birthdays

• 1-29 - Kate & Allie
• 2-13 - Heidi
• 11-3 - Johnny

Not me though. 5-12 almost all prime, but not quite.

Jimmy Carter Is Why I Am A Republican

To paraphrase Jimmy Carter's idiotic rant about race last week - " I grew in the South in the 40's and 50's . I knew racists. Racists do not like black people. President Obama is black. President Obama is being criticized. The people who are criticizing him must be racists."

Jimmy, THE IDIOT, is just as naive as he always has been

When I was 18 I voted for Jimmy Carter in my first vote for a President. That was the stupidest vote I have ever and will ever cast.

Shortly after that vote, I realized that good intentions and supposed intelligence were NOT enough to run our country. Since then, Jimmy Carter has been a gift to the Republicans that just keeps on giving. He is the worst President of the past two centuries and possibly in our entire history. I can think of NOTHING worthwhile that this man has done. If it were not for him, we might have had real peace.

Some of Jimmy's other blunders:

• Boycotting The 1980 Olympics
• The Iranian Hostage Crisis & Botched Response
• Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan
• Iran, Iran, Iran
  
• The Energy Crisis
• The Double Digit Inflation, Unemployment Rate and Energy Price Increases
• The Sweaters
• Muslim Appeasement at the Expense of Israel
• The ineptitude of Houses For Humanity - crappy construction, unsustainable model, but it felt good
• His worst sin and lasting contribution - symbolism over substance.
• Ironically his Anglo centric view of the world completely missed what was happening in Asia.
• HE was, still is and always will be THE RACIST.

His absolute most egregious evil, most profoundly asinine, cancerous, poisonous, loathsome, murderous, long range destructive impact on THE USA is his motto that

"Good intentions make it OK, even if bad results happen".

This alone is the worst idea that any American leader has EVER had.

The fact that this "motto" still exists in the minds of most Liberals is a testament of the damage that Jimmy Carter's incompetence has put upon this great world.

9-11 Hero, Chuck Margiotta - God Bless and Keep You Always

Chuck Margiotta gave his life on 9-11-01 trying to save others. He was off duty, a NYC Fireman, when the planes hit. He was on his way home. He turned around and went to help.

http://chuckmargiotta.com/

The stories, tributes, scholarships, memorials and love that are on his website are so emotional and heart felt. God bless his brother, Mike - my classmate, teammate and friend for keeping the glow from Chuck's soul alive and spreading.

Please take a look at the site and see for yourself the life of one of our heroes.

Chuck was my high school football teammate, one year my senior. When I first met Chuck, we were going through our Freshman hazing during summer training. We were happy we made the team, but we were now subject to standard rookie abuse. Chuck was hard on us, but he conveyed to me a feeling that this was tough, but fun, don't worry. I didn't.

I was trying something one day at practice, punting the ball so it would go backwards over my head. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Anyway, I kicked myself in the chin, and bit my tongue, hard, really hard. I was a mess. Poor Chuck is the first guy I saw and I said "Chuck, can you look at this?" I opened my mouth at him and he said "Let's go see coach" and walked me over. I have really no idea how I got to the hospital to get my 6 stitches, but I did. I heard somewhere once that the tongue does not scar. Whoever said that or believes it is wrong.

My memories of Chuck are:

• He was one tough cookie.
• He loved to swagger and was usually the center of the room.
• He was totally self aware.
• He used his stature to perfect effect with his wry sense of humor.
• He was the first guy I know that got an ear ring. when someone asked him why, he said "I wasn't getting in to enough fights!".
• He went to an Ivy League College - Brown University where he was loved.
• He graduated with a double major.
• He joined the New York City Fire Department.
• He lived and died a Staten Islander.

I personally knew at least 4 people who died on 9-11-01. I was in Hawaii at the time when my friend Stich called me to tell me what happened. I knew that I knew people in those buildings as soon as I turned on the TV at 4 AM local time.

Such evil.

The Badwill Games

In 1980, Jimmy Carter came up with the idea that boycotting the Olympics in Moscow would solve the problem of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Ted Turner did not like the USA leading a boycott of the Olympic Games. He created and then funded the Goodwill Games. He spent his own money to make sure that the athletes who had been training their entire sporting lives with the 1980 Olympics as their goal did not get totally stiffed by Carter's best intentioned, but 100% stupid boycott.

Since then we have had more drug stories about athletes than I can possibly put on a single blog.

So, here is my idea - The "BADWILL GAMES" - the ultimate series of Libertarian sporting events.

If I had all the money that Ted Turner had, I'd form a football, baseball, basketball and Olympic style leagues. Individual athletes would not be tested for anything. In the words of California's Governator they could smoke, snort, shoot, eat, insert anything they wanted to, as much as they wanted, as often as they desired.

The only rule would be, you have to be alive at the finish of your event.

Who ever wins, wins.

For example, in the 100 meter race, if you ran, exploded just after you crossed the finish line , your heirs would get their cash reward. Swimmers could have the water around them boil before they burst in to flames, bicyclers could ride with IV hookups on their handle bars, steroid and amphetamine fueled batters would try and rip the cover off of balls tossed by HGH enhanced pitchers who's arms fly off after they throw a 135 mph fastball.

How entertaining would that be?

The Games would be filled with chemically infused competitors going for it without any rules or regulations whatsoever.

Take what you want, when you want, as much as you want, as often as you want.

Let's see how fast, how high, how far, how much the human body could go using all of the pharmacological technology that we have available to us. I wonder what the 100 meter time would be? How many home runs could be hit? How far could a javelin be thrown?

The "Badwill Games" would truly test the limits of the human body, mind, spirit, self destructiveness in order to see what we are capable of as a species.

No rules would rule.

My Farrell Football Team in 1975 and 2009

I posted about my Excellent & Emotional Farrell HS Football Reunion. Here are a couple of photos, one from 1975 and the other from the game in 2009. Dupton has some other shots of the Alumni Bowl Game here.

I never paid much attention to the original 75 photo until it started floating around when Mike G, Mike M and Peter F started trying to get us to go back to Alumni Bowl.

Back when it was taken in 1975, for some reason I was absent from the photo on Joe's car. When it went around a few weeks ago I wondered why I was not in it. Thanks to technology and Don's mastery of Photo Shop, Don put me in the picture and gave it to me when he came to San Diego. He said it bothered him that I was not in that original shot for years.

It really is one of the best presents I received in a long time. And now, it is prominently displayed in my home.

My Son Johnny Started Playing Pop Warner Football

Johnny is 9.

I was 8 when I started playing Pee Wee Football in Staten Island.

So he is one year behind the time when I started. He is playing with 7, 8 and 9 year old boys who weigh under 90 pounds.

Some strange coincidences.

• He is playing Right Guard on offense, the same position I played.
• He is playing front one left of center on the kick off return team. It is the position I played. I can't remember which game it was, but I was up front, the ball came to me on the opening kickoff, I caught it and ran for a touchdown. My parents and brother were just getting to the game and my Dad thought I was going to fall down while I was running. I made it. When I watch Johnny now, I laugh often because he's trying really hard, but his grasp of the details of playing football has some gaps. For example, he's been in the right place when he was running his offensive plays, pulling, trapping and driving straight ahead perfectly on every play. But, in his first scrimmage, he was in the right place, at the right time but he never blocked anybody. He missed that part of the instructions. He'll get there.
• Johnny's number is 36, this was a totally random event, no requests, no position numbers etc.
• My number in my first year was 18 - 1/2 of Johnny's number or in other words, Johnny's number is 2x mine the first year I played.

Cool. Maybe he'll be twice as good as me.

My Emotional Excellent Farrell High School Football Reunion.

This summer I re connected with my High School Football team.

Staten Island Advance Article

YouTube Invite to Whole Team

My YouTube Invite From Coach B.

I went to Monsignor Farrell HS in Staten Island NY. I graduated in 1976 and still have the bicentennial themed tie that I wore at graduation. While at Farrell, I played football all four years. Farrell Football when I was growing up and learning the sport was the Gold standard of Staten Island football. I started playing Pee Wee football when I was 8 years old and gradually got in to the Pro teams, I was a Raiders and Chargers fan mainly because their games were on at 4 PM after we had come inside from playing outside all day. College was Ohio State, cool helmets and Penn State when Joe Paterno did not have a nick name.

But the best team I got to see was Farrell HS. I went to their games in grammar school and diligently tore up or hole punched giant bags of confetti, hoarded it, brought it to the games to toss at bee hive hairdos whenever the Lions did anything good.

After graduating from Grammar School, I took a test that all kids have to take in order to get in to NYC Catholic High Schools and scored high enough to have the opportunity to go to Farrell High School. It was a big deal. Staten Island was 90%+++ Catholic. Getting in to Farrell was probably scoring somewhere in the 80% plus in the standard tests that were the 8th grade version of the SATs. A lot of boys (it was an all boys school) were disappointed when they got their letters saying their test scores were not high enough to be admitted. Parents were proud of their boys acceptance. The boys were proud to be admitted. The school let them know that they were a privileged group that had the golden opportunity to even go to the school.

We thought we were hot stuff even before we walked in the door.

Entering Farrell, I was a football Pee Wee All Star, a very good swimmer and probably not nearly as good as I thought I was in baseball and basketball but I at least played them a lot.

Farrell HS football’s goal at that time was to win every game - period.

When I tried out and made the team I had a sense of accomplishment that was probably about as profound and satisfying as any 13 year old can have.

During my 4 years, we lost one game as freshmen (the sophomores mainly were the starters on the team) we won all our games as sophomores, lost one game as juniors (the seniors mainly were the starters on the team) and went undefeated with one tie our senior year. Our record for the four years was something like 30-2-1 and our senior year our team was ranked #1 in New York City by The Daily News and probably would have been ranked #1 by USA Today if it existed. The class of 77 never lost a single game in the four years they played. I confess I do not know where they ranked in the NYC polls but that is really an amazing statistic.

Physically we were an unimposing bunch. We were shorter, lighter, slower and weaker than most of the teams we played. Our big guys were about 6’2” and 220 and we had 2 of them. The rest of us were much smaller. Our offensive line probably averaged 5’10” and 180.

But we were well coached, disciplined, smart and believed with every fiber of our testosterone filled hearts that we should win every game, and we did.

Late in the spring of 2009, I was about 6 months in to a move that had taken our family from the North Shore of Oahu where we had lived for about 7 years to San Diego, California where I had lived since 1984. I got a phone call from Mike G. who was one of my Farrell Football team mates and he asked my permission for him to stay in touch with me and let me know of upcoming events. I really enjoyed hearing from him, the last time I had seen him was a random meeting on the Staten Island Ferry about 26 years ago.

Farrell HS started an alumni football game in 2005 as a fund raiser and to bring alumni back together to reconnect with the school. Living in Hawaii, I really did not pay much attention to what was going on more than 6,000 miles and an 11 hour non stop flight away.

Mike G and Mike M soon after that conversation that confirmed my email, phone, address et al, started sending out emails to everyone on the class of 76 Football team asking them to dig in to their address books and find everyone on the team and try and get them to come back to Farrell HS for the Alumni Game. They spent months tracking people down, phoning, emailing, guilt tripping, cajoling, to get the whole team back for the game.

They succeeded.

Every guy I graduated with came back, showed up at the game, reconnected and hopefully had as much of an emotional, uplifting, positive experience as I did.

My Itinerary was Friday June 12 (flight delayed of course) arrive Newark 2 AM drive through rain down pour (it does not rain in Southern California) to Don M’s house for a 2:30 arrival. Wake up at 6 AM for golf game with Dupton, borrowed clubs, played in sneakers, walk 18 in 110 % humidity @ 80 degrees, won ½ of an Aloha Press, couple of beers, pizza, drive to Joe Y’s house (an hour) JY had recently gone through leukemia treatment and looked like Uncle Fester, dinner, longest walk he’d take since chemo – 5 blocks or so, dinner, sleep, back to Don M’s to meet him to drive to Staten Island on Saturday morning, have mind blowing reunion game (I got an interception), get in town car back to Don’s house for 1 AM arrival on Sunday AM, wake up early, drive to CT to see my brother George, wife Julia and nephew I’ve never met James who just turned 1, play 18 at Noon, dinner, wake up early on Monday, go for walk, get in car from central CT, drive to JFK, meet Lenny and Julie for lunch, get to airport 6 hour delay, get to San Diego at Midnight and go to work at a new job in the AM on June 15.

My single biggest regret is not getting to Joe M’s house. He has been so gracious in offering me and family to stay there on multiple occasions, but it has not worked out and I feel terribly guilty about it. Joe, I’m sorry, I really am and the next time I’m back East, I’d really like to have me and the family stay with you, G and V. Donnie M thanks to you for saving me a bunch of money on this trip at a time when I really needed to be frugal.

As far as the game, dinner/party went. I had a transcendentally good time. Most of the guys on the team, I had met when I was competing against or had played on the same team with from 3rd grade and beyond. Some of us who played for Farrell did not like each other when we got to school because we had spent years trying to crush each other in sports.

When we got to Farrell and had the kind of success we did, the ecstatic feelings we had from winning were the same as winning the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup or Olympics. We were winning at a level that was the pinnacle of what we were capable of trying to achieve. Emotionally, when you win your championship, it is the best that you can do at the time under those circumstances. Emotionally, a bunch of 16,17 and 18 year olds winning their games feels the same to them as the Super Bowl champs. Historically, of course, it does not measure up, but the feeling the players have is the same at any level of sports. You don't save your celebrations for Game 7 of the World Series. Athletes as they progress and keep winning might get to experience more significant accomplishments at higher levels, but the feeling is a common bond back to when they were kids.

So, the team is getting back together this coming weekend August 28 on Staten Island to celebrate our achievements.

God Bless each and every one of them.

I can’t make it. My kids, my budget, my time, my distance, my commitments, yada, yada, yada will keep me in San Diego.

But gosh darn it, I wish I could be there.

I have a saying that nobody knows you like the people who you grew up with. They know your insecurities (most justified). They know what a jerk you have been and are capable of being. They know how you hurt and they know how much you were emotionally committed to anything you did in your teens. At the same time, we were amazingly clueless about what was happening in our lives back then. In 2009, I found out that one of my team mates Peter T’s Dad had had a heart attack, just before we were to go to football camp to earn our spots on the team. Pete went, when he did not know if his Dad was going to make it. His Dad wound up OK. I did not realize all this until 60 days ago at the Reunion.

Most of my team mates probably don’t know what happened to me at that same camp. I thought I was pretty good. I wanted to play defensive back, return kicks, return punts, punt the ball and if anything happened, jump in a play QB. While running 4th team offense, they needed someone to step in a run some routes as a receiver. I jumped in and started goofing off with Sean H, miss stepped and severely hyper extended my knee. At the time, there were no MRI’s or other technology. It was not until 2006 when I had surgery to repair my ACL that I found out I had completely ruptured my ACL during the summer of my evolution to senior year.

I was athletically toast.

I remember lying on the cot in 90 degree heat and throwing a knife that I had brought with me over and over in to the wall because I knew I had blown my chance to be a star on the team and maybe get a scholarship to some school, some where, for football. During those agonizing mental and physically painful days, I came to the conclusion that I would never again put 100% of my heart and soul in to sports (I was also a varsity swimmer and club baseball and basketball player). I decided that I’d play sports, not bleed sports. I’ve played lots since then, enjoyed a bunch, still enjoy a good golf bet but made the right decisions as far as College, job and life went based on education, not sports.

If my team mates are anywhere as clueless as I was about what was going on in their lives, I have to believe they thought Johnny D hurt himself and just did not get better.

Farrell Football was a life shaping experience for me. Coming up short on what I felt were was my potential playing football was a life shaping experience for me.

Pete F I’m sure you have the same “what ifs” regarding your knee and how if affected your life. All I know is that I really liked what I saw at the Alumni Bowl – great guys, great families, great fun and a great opportunity for someone to sell us all diet programs.

PS, Joe, I am really sorry. Please offer again.

To the rest of the gang, be healthy.

Tiger Woods, The First "Black" And "Oriental" Winner Of A Major Golf Tournament.

It is widely stated and accepted that Tiger Woods is the breaker of golf's "Black" color barrier.

If you asked, "Who is the first "Black" winner of a "Major" golf tournament, I'd say close to 100% of the media would say "Tiger Woods".

If you asked "Who is first "Oriental/Asian" winner of a "Major" golf tournament, I'd say close to 100% of the media would say "Y. E. Yang" - the recent Korean winner of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

I say that Tiger Woods is the first Oriental/Asian and Black winner of a "Major" golf tournament.

Tiger Woods and myself absolutely understand and agree that he and I have Oriental/Asians blood. My Mom is Japanese (born in Japan) , my Dad is Irish/German (born in the USA). Tiger's Mom is Thai (born in Thailand) , his Dad is Black, Caucasian and American Indian (born in the USA).

Tiger Woods is more Oriental than he is Black - do the math.

Tiger Woods is 12 times the first Oriental Major Golf Tournament winner if he is also the first Black Major Golf Tournament winner.

I am 1/2 Oriental. Once upon a time, during a conversation I identified someone as "Oriental". A white P.C. person pointed out to me that "Oriental" was derogatory and "Asian" was more appropriate. I disagreed and said that Oriental was more accurate in that Asian was broad and did not do justice to the diversity of Asians. Eastern Europeans, Russians, Ukrainians, Indians, Siberians, Tibetans are all Asian, but not of the Orient. I am 1/2 Japanese, my Mom was from, proud of, die hard Japanese of Oriental persuasion. My mom did not think that being from the Orient was derogatory. In that PC Haole's world view, Europeans that are Italians, Greeks, Danes are the same as Scots, Poles, French, Irish etc. I doubt that you'd get much agreement among the Euros about that characterization.

I loved it when early in his career Tiger disputed the Media's slotting of him as "Black". He quite vehemently stated those who say he is Black while not acknowledging his Asian/Oriental roots were disrespecting his Mother's and his heritage. He, despite Jim Rome's derision, proudly describes himself as "Cablinasian" - part Caucasian, part Black, part Indian (American) and part Asian.

I love it.

I do not fault Tiger at all for NOT pointing out how inaccurate, narrow minded, racist, ignorant and lazy it is for just about every person in the Media to say he is "Black". The Media has their racist agenda, black is black, white is white, there is nothing else. To educate these narrow minded Racists (not Bigots) would take more energy than he really needs to expend. Let them remain ignorant, it really does not matter to him or me.

If Tiger actually has to fill out forms that ask what race he is, I am sure he is faced with the same category choices that I am - White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Inuit, etc.

I wonder if he does what I do and fills in "Other".

They Are NOT Astroturfing, Serial Protesters

I saw a survey in a recent Time Magazine (8-10-09 page 26) that asked about how people feel about their current health care plans.

The most shocking statistic that I saw was that 86% of the people in this survey "Are Satisfied With Their Current Health Care Plan".

86% in polling is a whopper of a statistic. I'll bet that less than 86% of people agree that Tiger Woods is a good golfer, Michael Jackson was a good dancer, Megan Fox is hot or know who the past three Presidents of the USA were.

How could the Obama/Democrat controlled Federal Government think that changing a plan that 86% of people are satisfied with was going to be easy?

While I was living on the North Shore of Oahu, I first heard about "Serial Protesters" from a blogger that I followed. Serial Protesters referred to a group of people who seemed to be at every left wing demonstration. It was as if the events were part of their social calendar or how they added to their weekend income. Global warming, Hawaiian rights, any pro Union event, no development/pro development, gay marriage, no Bush, Yes We Can, you name it. The protesters showed up in air conditioned buses with professionally made signs, trailed by previously alerted media, state of the art audio systems, choreographed marches & chants and catered meals after the scheduled protest ended. There was no doubt that these people knew the drill.

The protesters I am seeing at Town Hall meetings across the county are very angry, white, middle/old aged, moderate income, never protested in their life, amateur agitators. The Democrat leadership is calling these citizens "astro turfing, tea bagging, brown shirted, Nazi, stooges of the insurance companies, blind followers of radio programs".

The Democrats are ignoring the obvious at their own peril. 86% of the people are satisfied with a program that the Democrats want to blow up. It really is almost impossible to change that many people's opinions.

I think older, white, rural, middle income people who are 86% (possibly higher for this group) satisfied with their health coverage are not being loaded on to buses, going to Town Hall meetings, foisting ill prepared signs, screaming until they get dragged off by the local police all because their INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE MAKING THEM DO IT.

These protesters are real grass roots people with fear that the same people who run the Post Office/DMV/CashForClunkers might decide about their health care.

To listen to the Democrats, the peeved people are being bussed in, paid, fed, given signs, taught songs & marching skills by the AFLAC duck.

My LTTE To Time Magazine Re Being In The Tank For The Democrats.

I just sent my first Letter to the Editor (LTTE) to Time Magazine after reading their cover story about what ails Las Vegas. Text is below:


Subject: My first LTTE to Time from a 35 year plus subscriber/reader.

When Barney Frank and President Obama both lectured corporate America not to waste money on travel to Las Vegas the effects were immediate, long lasting and devastating. Hundreds of thousands of room nights were cancelled, millions more were probably not booked and thousands of people lost their jobs as a direct result of their ill advised remarks. The Democrat controlled federal government has done great damage to the Las Vegas economy. Ask anyone who sells hotel rooms for a living and they will let you know how much the talking down of the hospitality industry has hurt their business. In fear of embarrassment or incurring the disapproval of the Obama administration, corporations that had booked travel cancelled their trips even though their forfeited deposits on rooms, banquets, airfares etc just about equaled the amount of money they would have spent if they went to Vegas. Who lost out? The workers who would have cleaned the rooms, served the food, gotten the tips and kept their jobs.

Yet, Time does a cover story, 8 full pages and 4,000 plus words and Joel Stein does not write a single sentence about what devastation Frank and Obama caused. I enjoy Stein, I even stomached his entire placenta eating article. Someone this aware simply must have chosen to ignore this administration's negative impact on this city.

Come on guys, at least give us the impression you are not totally in the tank for the Democrat agenda.

I'm 51, I've been a subscriber and reader since I was 14. I've long accepted Time's take on either side of an issue. Time's opinion is part of the reason I will continue to subscribe, probably till death do us part. But this omission of fact is so blatant and egregious, that it has caused me to write my first LTTE to Time.

What's Wrong With California's Gas?

Last summer we moved from the North Shore of Oahu to San Diego. We shipped two vehicles a van and a Lexus RX 330.

Last year, two families who are good friends of ours also moved to California and they also shipped two vehicles each.

I used to get around 380 miles per tank. 16 or so gallons, 23-24 miles per gallon. As soon as I started filling up my tank here my mileage dropped about 25%. I now get about 300 miles per tank 18-19 miles per gallon.

I don't drive too much, maybe an average of a tank a week. Very conservatively, I'm paying about $12 a week more - about $600 more a year, could be a $1,000. My wife has experienced the same drop off in mileage so for our family, we are spending probably about $1,500 - $2.000 more a year on gas here based on the same price per gallon, just more because the gas here in California is less efficient than the blend they sell in Hawaii. The same thing has happened to our friends who moved their vehicles here as well.

If I were not lazy, I'd figure out the next question - why am I getting 25% less mileage in California than Hawaii? I am definitely driving on the freeway more here so all things equal, I should get better mileage.

I know that the formulation of gas here is meant to lessen pollution. But, if the gas is anything less than 25% less polluting, I am actually creating more pollution driving with the gas that is meant to cause less pollution.

Are you following me?

The INTENTION of California trying to create less pollution by using a different formulated gas, MIGHT BE CREATING MORE POLLUTION AND COSTING ALL OF US A HECK OF A LOT MORE MONEY. I guess I should skip the ALL CAPS until I know the answer to the efficiency question but right now, I am going to guess the math does not work - (my conservative instincts.)

This gas thing seems wasteful, best intentioned, poorly executed and something that should be an easy measurement and an easy fix.

Anyone out there know what the scoop is?

I've invented a new word - Poligotry

I've been asking my wife, my children, my best friend and his family for a word or a phrase that captures my perception of a new type behavior that closely resembles the bigotry, sexism and phobias of past generations.

This new irrational hatred or fear is not based on some physical characteristic, sexual orientation, race, religion, etc. It is solely based on an individuals political party.

Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of this affliction.

There was no word or phrase to firmly implant this behaviour in the lexicon of uniquely American descriptors. These include Baby Boomer, Gen X, Dead Head, Racist, Sexist, Bigot, Homophobe, Right Wing Nutjob, Left Wing Looney.

Here is my attempt:

Poligotry - contempt, hatred, rage toward another person solely based on their political preference. It causes intelligent people to say hateful, hurtful, stupid things about people simply because they do not agree with them politically.


I was having a discussion with my very good friend Liz, who I genuinely love. I was asking her about a word that describes this hatred. I brought up someone who is hated by Democrats, but is extremely accomplished - Condelezza Rice. I said she is given no credit for attaining her position as a Repulican woman. Even though the discussion was about the word I was looking for she spat out "Condelezza Rice is an idiot". I pointed out she was the Provost of Stanford, highest ranking black government official ever (at the time), woman, etc. But it did not matter, she was just another Republican idiot. I said, this is not a political discussion but a discussion about a word that is about politics. I could not get her back on track. Every time I mentioned a person who was accomplished who was a minority, she got very agitated and started blasting the person I was using as an example. I was staring at the soul of poligotry.

Oprah Winfrey refuses to have Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court Justice, a black man, a best selling author on her show because he is a conservative Ditto Sarah Palin - her face should be in the Wiki for poligotry (Sarah I mean).

The left wings refusal to give kudos to Elizabeth Dole, Condeleza Rice, Alberto Gonzales, Sandra Dey O'Conner, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell (until he endorsed Obama) for their accomplishments as minorities, simply because they do not agree with them politically.

The right wing refusal to to give kudos to Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Al Gore, Rosie O'Donnel for their accomplishments , simply because they do not agree with them politically.

Remember the infamous statement by Pauline Kael, writer for the New Yorker, after Richard Nixon won 49 states in a huge landslide over McGovern, when she said “I don’t know how this happened, I don’t know anyone who voted for Nixon.” I love that quote, it says so much about our polarization.

Intelligent people are looking at the world and not even remotely seeing the same thing.

As I read through my daily round of blogs I am struck yet again by the stark differences in liberal vs. conservative views of the world. Not just differences of opinion about what SHOULD be, but differences of opinion about what IS, each side being convinced that the other is delusional and hating them for it.

Poligotry is an ugly word and ugly behaviour.