An Early Spring's Saturday.1

The air is warmer, the sun is higher, the seeds are (hopefully) germinating, and the bells of the ice-cream man have returned to the Mission.




As the parent of three young children, the first day of every weekend is almost completely devoted to being a Dad. It has always been so.



There's basketball camp, backyard basketball, ice-skating, "art" projects, Play Station 2, Sponge Bob Square Pants, "Hanna Montana," macaroni and cheese, and so, so much more.



By nightfall, they've spread to the wind, my children. One is watching the pre-NBA All Star Game competitions at a friend's house; one is staying in Santa Cruz near the boardwalk with a buddy; the third is staying with a friend at (improbably) 1234 (street name) #5.



If you do not have children, or are not actively involved in raising them, I imagine that Saturdays must be far different from anything I have ever experienced.



Maybe this is a day when you go out with a club of like-minded bicyclists, kayakers, hikers, or quilt-makers?

I hope so. Given how hard we all work, I hope for single people that Saturdays are the time to relax, pursue your passions, and shut out all the cultural noise that engulfs us.



After all, we're all in this together.




So, "I'll let you into my Saturday if you'll let me into yours." (Sorry, Bob.)



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Blood Oranges

Announcement: Today, I posted my first blog entry on the media business at bNet bloggers ...if you care to visit, please read my colleagues' posts and then scroll down to find mine.



Other than this news, today was a school holiday, so most of my time was spent in parenting: Science homework, basketball practice, Haiku, water colors, clothes shopping, smoothies, cooking, cleaning, laundry, chili, macaroni & cheese, cereal, cup of noodles, quesadillas, pizza, and so many other elements.



Cousin Mike dropped by tonight. Ever wonder what a Buddhist Lama does? Well, among other things, he's been helping a tortured young man find his way into and out of the psych ward at SF General after he indulged in a series of self-destructive episodes at Mike's temple.

Sounds like God's work to me.



It's springtime here in San Francisco.



Sourgrass is sprouting out back. I've planted green onions, daikon, radishes, and herbs out front.



So, I've caught spring fever yet again this year.

BTW, these are blood oranges.

I know that for many of you, spring remains a wistful feeling, but it will yet come. Here, in the place where all the seasons are hopelessly mixed up, it is upon us this week, but it could well be missing in action by next week.

p.s. If you chose to not follow the link to my bNet blog at the top of this post, you can still click on the title of this entry, which will take you there. And, I would be so grateful if you chose to comment on what I wrote!

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Happy Valentines Day

The third annual surprise pillow fight occurred tonight on the Embarcadero. From these photos, you will get the idea. Although I know a bit about this event courtesy of Laughing Squid, I'm still not clear about who came up with this idea, not to mention why so many people find it fun.

But, despite the mess they made of our downtown streets tonight, with so many feathers that it looked like snow, this seems like a harmless outlet much like Burning Man for young people caught in a society that often seems utterly devoid of any relevant spiritual rituals.

In this context, youthful energy has no other collective outlet but irony. That this year's event took place on Valentines Day, the commercial equivalent of Christmas for flower vendors and chocolate companies, is a perfect post-modern statement.

***

Meanwhile, thousands of miles and cultural light years away from tonight's downtown pillow fight, those survivors of Hurricane Katrina living in FEMA trailers were urged by the agency today to move out, because the trailers have been found to be toxic.


FEMA Plans Trailer Exodus

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

After downplaying the risks for months, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday it will rush to move Gulf Coast hurricane victims out of roughly 35,000 government-issued trailers because tests found dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes.

FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said the agency hopes to get everyone out and into hotels, motels, apartments and other temporary housing by the summer, when the heat and stuffy air could worsen the problem inside the trailers.

"The real issue is not what it will cost but how fast we can move people out," he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fumes from 519 tested trailers and mobile homes in Louisiana and Mississippi were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes. Formaldehyde, a preservative commonly used in construction materials, can lead to breathing problems and is also believed to cause cancer...


I can vouch, as one who was on the scene as the first survivors moved into these smelly trailers a few months after the storm, that we all knew then that these were unhealthy environments. It's yet another measure of the Bush administration's callous disregard for the fate of the poor that it has taken this long for FEMA to admit the obvious.

Shame on you!

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We brake for news (バラックオバマ氏が大好きなリトル)

You may not yet have heard that Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's birthday, August 4th, happens to be "Chopsticks Day" in the small city in western Japan that is his accidental namesake.

And that's a pretty big deal in Obama City, because it is mainly known for making excellent chopsticks.

City leaders hope to capitalize on this unlikely opportunity to promote their remote enclave and attract more tourists to the area.

They are printing up I (Heart) Obama T-shirts, and baking special bean cakes with his likeness on them.

"Obama" means "little beach" in Japanese.

Further research reveals that the Japanese word closest to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain's name is Makeinu. It is pronounced almost like "McCain" is in English, but with a little twist at the end.

Unfortunately, this means "Loser Dog" in Japan. This is a disparaging, sexist term used to describe women who choose not to get married and raise children.

None of this is meant to mean anything beyond whatever you choose to make of it, dear reader. (Don't over-react, Danogram!) I love Dan's comments, which appear at the end of some of my posts, because he brings a different political perspective to this space.

Although my own conservative, libertarian, and anti-liberal sentiments occasionally surface here, more often I must appear as a left-leaning politico. I've never been fond of strait-jacket labels myself, and welcome debaate with anybody of any political persuasion on any issue whatsoever.

BTW, here at Hotweir Central, we tried to locate a word that sounded close to "Clinton" in Japanese, but all we came up was a traditional chestnut dish called "Kurikinton."

And, sorry Mike, but we couldn't find anything that sounds like "Huckabee."

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聞いたことがあるかもしれませんが、まだバラックオバマ氏が民主党の大統領候補の誕生日は、 8月4日は、偶然にも"はしの日"は、日本と西洋の小都市では、彼の不慮の同名の人です。

そしてそれは大したことで、かなりの小浜市< /スパン>は、主に知られているため、優秀なはしを作る。

市の指導者たちに希望を大文字にして、この機会を促進する彼らの遠隔飛び地そうにないとより多くの観光客を誘致するエリアです。

印刷する彼らは私の小浜市（心臓） < /スパン> Tシャツ、そして彼の肖像ベーキング特別豆のケーキをしています。

の "小浜市" < /スパン>という意味の "リトルビーチ" < /スパン> "日本人です。

さらなる調査によると、日本の推定に最も近い単語の候補に指名された共和党のジョンマケインの名前は makeinu < /スパン>です。と発音することがほとんどのような"マケイン"とは、英語ではなく、少しひねる末です。

残念なことに、この手段の "負け犬" < /スパン> "日本です。これは、中傷的、性差別用語を使用して記述しないように選択した女性たちが結婚や子育てです。

いずれもこれは何を意味するという意味を超えて何を作るのを選択することは、親愛なる読者です。の （過剰に反応しないで、 danogram ！ ） < /スパン>アイラブダンのコメントは、末尾に表示されるいくつかの自分の投稿には、彼をもたらすために、別の政治的なこの観点にスペースが必要です。

にもかかわらず私自身の保守派は、自由主義、反自由主義的な意見と時折表面ここでは、私よりも頻繁に表示される必要があります左寄りの政治家としてのです。私は一度も自分のお気に入りのラベル海峡-ジャケット、そして誰にも歓迎してdebaateいかなる政治的な説得して任意の問題を受けない。

ところで、ここでの hotweir中央< /スパン>は、単語の位置を確認することを試みたの音に近い"クリントン大統領"と日本語では、我々がすべてを思い付いたのは、伝統的な栗料理と呼ばれるの " kurikintonです" < /スパン>

とは、申し訳ありませんが、マイク、しかし、我々みたいなことは何も見つけることができなかった" huckabee 。 "

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The rich and the not rich

So, here in the "land of the free, and home of the brave," exactly how much equality exists between us Americans?

Let me tell you. Across all households, the national median net worth is $86,000. Half of your fellow citizens have more than that, and half less.

The top ten percent have, on average, a net worth of $833,600, according to the
most recent Federal Reserve Board Survey.

One percent of the U.S. population -- nearly 3 million people -- currently has as much money as the 100 million people at the bottom of our pyramid.



This afternoon, my 13-year-old asked me to drive him out to the JV Girls' championship game at the fancy gymnasium at the Katherine Delmar Burke School (KDBS). It was a classic confrontation between the rich side of town and the poor.

For me, it was a complicated moment. I am still grateful for the excellent education my oldest two girls received at KDBS a quarter century ago. But, tonight, the Mission District prevailed over Pacific Heights. The final score was in Synergy's favor, 14-10.

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p.s. The latest link to a Free Bird concert on YouTube:

The rings of life

This is one of my favorite photographs, even though from a technical perspective, it sucks. This is a slender slice of one of the wood beams that now (yay!) anchors my new central heating system.

Look at the rings of sap between the harder rings of wood. What a marvelous record of the years this magnificent little tree lived! It was just a child when it was harvested, but the beauty of its tender life is preserved in this view.



I think about trees all the time. I have always loved being among trees. One of my earliest memories, from over a half century ago, is walking with my Canadien grandmother down a street near her home in Pontiac, Michigan, as she pointed out the maples, oaks, elms, aspen, birch, and other deciduous trees of the upper Midwest to me.

There is no smell to a native like the smell of a deciduous forest outside your window when you are going to sleep. Sometimes when I have traveled, I have had the pleasure of sleeping in a room with an open window in the upper Midwest -- I remember one particular night in Minneapolis years ago where nostalgia from my Michigan roots swept in from the trees outside to comfort me as no other odor ever could have done.



Out here, we are introducing our Japanese buddy to the fine art of pumping gas. Today, for the very first time (!) she filled up the gastank of my little car.

Job well done.

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Daily Essentials for News Junkies

Examining the daily tracking polls becomes part of the routine for journalists covering an election cycle. Click on the title of this post if you want to read the most detailed analysis of the Clinton-Obama race I've yet seen, by Jay Cost of Real Clear Politics.

Be forewarned, however, this is for serious statheads, those able to follow regression analysis and demographic segmentation techniques -- without inducing a return of the tortured nightmares of doing math homework!

***

Today are the Potomac Primaries -- Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virgina -- and Obama anticipates three more victories, possibly by large margins. McCain may be losing ground in Virgina to Huckabee, however.

Josh Marshall's TPM , which is another of my daily surf spots, reports that the latest SurveyUSA poll of Virginia shows how fast that Huck seems to be closing in on the presumptive GOP front-runner.

Here are yesterday's numbers, compared to the previous poll released last Friday:

McCain 48% (-9)
Huckabee 37% (+10)

If this trend carries through today's voting, Huck could pull to within a percentage point of two of McCain, in other words, within the margin of error.

***

Finally, there is the daily dose at Rasmussen.

Today, the site reports: "Obama is the most popular candidate at the moment, viewed favorably by 53% and unfavorably by 44%. Clinton is viewed favorably by 49% of Likely Voters nationwide, unfavorably by 49%. McCain’s is viewed favorably by 48% and unfavorably by 49%. Opinions about Clinton are more strongly held than opinions about either Obama or McCain."

***

Where is all of this stuff going? McCain should win his party's nomination well ahead of the convention. Obama seems to have passed Clinton and may be on the verge of pulling away. Two big primaries, on March 4th in Texas and Ohio, are now Clinton's focus. Pennsylvania will be hotly contested; Puerto Rico could be decisive. What to do about the rogue delegates from Michigan and Florida is no longer an academic question.

Finally, for the Democrats, which way will the so-called Super Delegates go? These are elected officials and party insiders. There are hints in various press reports that some who were previously committed to Clinton are now switching to Obama.

The reason Democrats are worried about the party's lively split between these two candidates is this year's convention was moved back to after Labor Day. Obama's and Clinton's campaigns have a long time to beat up one another, and whichever candidate prevails would have precious little time to pull together a unified effort less than two months later in the general election.

We can expect growing pressure from party leaders to unify behind Obama if he dispatches Clinton in the remaining primaries. He's won the overwhelming number of contests and has pulled into the lead in delegates. He's got the 'Mo.

But she's digging in for a fight. The prospect of a long, ugly battle, with Bill Clinton out there mucking things up even more than he has to date, may present the most viable scenario whereby the Republicans could retain control of the White House come November.

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