For What it's Worth. . .

Washington's New Launch Code

2014-03-04T02:30:00.002-08:00

Call it a lack of self awareness, too much talk of American decline, or the urgency to respond to the crisis in Ukraine during a twenty four hour news cycle. But the expected White House responses - stern speeches, targeted financial sanctions, diplomatic snubbing and cessation of military ties - seem typical of an America (rightly) unwilling to discuss a war, but unsure of what else to do.

Incredibly, American policymakers seem unsure or unaware of the most important non-lethal weapon at their disposal - the energy weapon.

For more than three decades, America has been outmaneuvered by its own energy deficit and drawn into a myriad of difficult and bloody conflicts, many of which were about access to energy. It has seen its defense budgets balloon and thousands of its kids lost to overseas wars. The energy weapon was effectively used against America by energy rich nations and symbolized American dependence on foreign sources of energy. Ultimately it gave a voice and power to international players, that without energy of their own, wouldn't have been players at all.

Late last year, while thousands of Ukrainians were braving the bitter winter in Kiev to protest a corrupt government and calling for the right to direct the future of their country, the US reached an important milestone as it passed Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producing country. These two paths - a desire for Ukrainian self determination and America's status as a world oil major - should not have been distant ships passing in the night.

Say what you want, good or bad, about America's newfound oil and natural gas resources, their extraction methods, interstate delivery pipelines and the like. Much will be done in the years to come to more safely extract these resources from the ground. But the reality is, America will keep drilling and fracking oil and natural gas and it is likely to continue to be a major global energy producer for decades to come.

In the world of diplomacy and protecting US interests abroad, someone ought to call the White House and tell them they have a winning lottery ticket in between the seats of their car and they forgot to cash it in.

If used prudently and responsibly, America's energy wealth should help better maintain international security. We see it on a macro level, where Western sanctions banning Iranian oil did little to roil oil markets last year and in part allowed negotiations to proceed on a nuclear deal. Since the Japanese Tsunami and the devastation to their nuclear power sector, we'll see more American energy exports to Japan, an important US ally.

But the real opportunity lies in America's ability to use its energy resources to support fledgling democracies and advance the spread of freedom and self-governance around the world.

For decades (as today), cheap oil and gas exports from Russia hung over Europe as the ultimate carrot and stick. During quiet times, Russia expanded its oil and gas export infrastructure to Europe through a permanent web of interdependence. But after invading Crimea and with the EU threatening sanctions, gas markets are nervous that an angry Russia will indefinitely cut off supplies to a major regional economy.

America has the opportunity and ability to strategically expand its oil and gas exports so that allies are less dependent on where their gas comes from and more stoic in pursuit of their own interests - whether through meaningful sanctions against Russia from the EU or citizens taking a stand in Ukraine against geopolitical bullying.

Today, Gazprom, Russia's large oil and gas monopoly, exports over 15 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas to Europe. By contrast, America has either approved or is considering approving LNG export applications for over 8 bcfd, or just over half the exports sent by Russia to Europe. Moreover, America produces over 70 bcfd, including a recent 25% increase from fracking activities. With the right policy direction, America can quickly increase its capability to export large quantities of energy when and where necessary.

In direct response to today's crisis with Russia, the White House and Congress should direct the Department of Energy to fast track more LNG export applications and significantly boost US capacity to export its valuable gas resources abroad. Nobody at home should be under the illusion that America will now permanently sell all of its natural gas to Europe, forever raising the price of gas in the US. Europeans will ultimately want cheaper gas from Russia delivered via pipeline and Russia will ultimately want to sell its natural gas to the large EU market. But demonstrating the capability and willingness on the part of America to sell large quantities of gas to allies in Europe for a sustained period of time would do much to limit the gas threats coming from Moscow these days and allow EU and American diplomats more room to maneuver in the Ukrainian crisis, before more blood is shed.

It also might make Putin and other bullies think twice before playing energy blackmail - or better yet, think twice before bullying in the first place. That, in the end, is the target - and ultimate triumph - of America's powerful energy weapon.

"Everyone Bought In"

2012-10-29T01:51:00.001-07:00

It appears that nobody in baseball really understands them.

Tonight in Detroit, the San Francisco Giants won their second World Series in three years and they did so in improbable fashion. After losing their dominant closer Brian Wilson to injury this Spring and following the betrayal by their offensive machine in a steroid scandal, they endured.

When the Dodgers picked up a quarter of a billion dollars in talent at the July trade deadline, the Giants quietly pushed on, eventually leaving the National League West division behind with an eight game advantage.

They stumbled into the division series playoffs losing the first two games to the Cincinnati Reds at their home park in San Francisco. But as the Giants had done all year long, they gave life and substance to the most popular sports cliches. They were a team. They never quit. They played to the last out. They believed.

The Giants won the next three games on the road in Cincinnati, propelled by dominant pitching and electrifying at bats, like that from its quiet superstar Buster Posey. When the likely NL MVP lifted a grand slam into the upper deck of left center field in the deciding game five, it seemed as if anything was possible.

The Giants then moved on to face the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, falling to an early 3-1 Series deficit and once again facing elimination.

Finding themselves in an improbable game seven, the Giants won their fifth straight elimination game and decisively knocked off the Cardinals beneath the most unlikely of October San Francisco rain.

The momentum continued straight to Detroit, where tonight the Giants completed a fourth straight win over the nationally favored Tigers to earn their second World Series ring in three years.

In many ways, they were the team that nobody else in the country understood, except for the sold out crowds who followed them each and every night. In the same way that Michael Lewis' Moneyball lifted the curtain on the power of statistics in assembling a baseball team, this year's Giants demonstrated the unbelievable power of selflessness and team in winning a world championship.

Even in the post-game interviews however, the national media seemed bewildered by the Giants. It was hard to call this a fluke after it was done in such dominant fashion. But still the questions came. "What is it about this Giants team?" they asked. Few understood.

Hunter Pence perhaps explained it best. "Everyone bought in to it. We bought in to playing for each other, which you don't see 25 guys (do)." In an era of big contracts, free agency and in a culture of individual accolades, it is a concept that has somehow become unique in professional sports - and perhaps unique in our own lives.

Each and every night, a new player contributed. Giants' Manager Bruce Bochy became famous for yanking pitchers only to call in the next arm he knew could get the out. Players stood aside for others who could do the job. Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum pitched out of the bullpen because that was what he was asked to do. And he rose to the occasion, pitching a commanding 13 innings in five relief appearances in the post season, allowing just three hits and one earned run, while striking out 17.

When General Manager Brian Sabean tried to explain their success after the game seven NL Pennant win in San Francisco, he said they were "better men than they are ball players." They picked each other up. They all bought in.

While the Giants speculate about a target on their backs in the coming years after such recent success, one wonders if the competition will fully understand. The Giants have a motto: "25 Guys. One Common Goal. Win Today." They would be wise not to let Michael Lewis write about it. The longer it remains misunderstood, the more ring fingers they'll need.

***********************

Today was another improbable day for different reasons. As I've written before, my youngest brother's struggle with leukemia seemed to run together with the Giants' first World Series run. Today was his 27th birthday and he received the gift of a World Series sweep from the team that lifted all of our hopes during that difficult Fall in 2010. After being given every reason to doubt his future two years ago, today he thrives with the best health he's had in the eight years since his first cancer diagnosis.

For the first time in many years, his birthday was celebrated with a certain regularity - brunch, family, laughs and presents. For the first time in many years, his life seems defined not by illness, but by the opportunities that lie ahead. It's hard to watch another Giants World Series win and not see the commonalities between his path and theirs. Never quit. Play to the last out. Believe.

Perhaps more than the Giants themselves, Johnny epitomizes their secret World Series winning formula that transcends sports: One Common Goal. Win Today.

Happy Birthday Johnny.

Lost In The Wilderness

2012-07-21T01:36:00.003-07:00

I was ten and I can vividly remember the afternoon I spent following my Dad around the swimming pool as he scooped out leaves and changed the chlorine, while answering my questions. I had come across his Boy Scout Handbook in the garage and spent the morning pouring through it, reading about knot tying, camping techniques, wilderness survival tips and snake bites. For hours he talked to me about his time in scouting. I was hooked.

When I turned 11, I joined Troop 101 in San Rafael, CA with a few friends I knew from school and many others I didn't. For the next six years, I spent nearly every Monday night attending troop meetings, one weekend a month camping throughout Northern California and one week every summer at Camp Marin Sierra near Lake Tahoe.

In addition to earning my Eagle Scout rank, I spent two weeks backpacking through northern New Mexico at the Boy Scout's treasured Philmont Scout Ranch. We performed hundreds of hours of community service, sang Christmas carols at senior centers, raised money for our own activities, held leadership positions and learned how to respect and enjoy nature. We got in and out of trouble. It was a time I spent memorably with my Dad and my two younger brothers. It was a community of kids I never would have known otherwise through sports or school. Some of my closest friends over the years came from Troop 101. Scouting was a unique outlet and I loved it.

*****

Sadly, the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that meant so much to me and contributed to much of my growth as a young adult, decided recently to continue its absurd policy of excluding homosexual scouts and adult leaders from Scouting. With this decision, they bring shame to an organization otherwise worthy of the public's praise and support.

In attempting to explain their position, the neanderthal executives at the BSA stated that "The committee’s work and conclusion is that this policy reflects the beliefs and perspectives of the BSA’s members, thereby allowing Scouting to remain focused on its mission and the work it is doing to serve more youth." Unfortunately, the decision accomplishes exactly the opposite. In the same way that Sarah Palin became the story (and distraction) that sunk the Presidential ambitions of John McCain, the BSA are allowing themselves to be defined as an organization committed to discrimination, which overshadows everything else the BSA offers American youth.

In 2000, the Supreme Court affirmed the Boy Scouts' right to organize privately with this policy in place. Tellingly, the decision was based in part on the observation by the Court that opposition to homosexuality was an "expressive message" of the BSA - in other words discrimination against gays was part of "its mission". I must have been absent for that Monday night Scout meeting when we all swore an oath to not associate with gay people. I must not have been paying attention when the BSA defined for me what it means to be "morally straight" - the final words of the Boy Scout Oath.

In seeking to move on from the issue that the BSA themselves created, to "remain focused on its mission", the executive leadership in Irving, Texas continue to dishonor their members - both past and present - and all that Scouting should represent for every kid in America. For me, Scouting's "expressive message" was many things, none of which related to one's sexuality.

The BSA's conservative apologists cling to the tired notion that the BSA need to protect children from sexual abuse. That defense is not only insulting to homosexuals - suggesting that all gay men are somehow predisposed to sexually abusing children - it is woefully ignorant of the myriad of sexual abuse scandals that have centered around seemingly heterosexual adults (from Jerry Sandusky to the Catholic Church). For those understandably worried about the safety of their sons, they should insist that the BSA focus its energies on preventing any adult - gay or straight - from being in a situation alone with a child, a policy that protects both children from abuse and adults from frivolous accusations.

For conservatives who believe that opposition to homosexuality is just part of the fabric of their own political platform, they ought to wake up from their slumber and look at a calendar. In 2010, one of conservative's legal champions and the attorney most credited with sweeping George W. Bush into office penned The Conservative Case For Gay Marriage. Theodore Olson, the former Solicitor General of the United States, then went on to successfully remind California voters and the 9th Circuit Court that discrimination by any means - even by a simple majority vote in the form of Prop 8 - is still discrimination and illegal. Imagine that.

*****

Perhaps the executives in Irving should spend more time with actual scouts and scout leaders and less time leading two-year studies that only reaffirm the smallness of their characters and the fear inherent in their politics. What they might realize is that thirteen year-old Scouts are focused on merit badges, learning CPR and First Aid, and how to properly rescue a drowning swimmer - a skill that came in handy for me one summer (and handier for the drowning seven year-old boy). They will find fathers dedicated to teaching kids about leadership and citizenship and enjoying time spent with their children. If they get out of Irving, they will find real values that ought to inspire them.

But what they won't find in Troops across the country is a gay witch hunt.

It's time that the BSA finally live up to its member's "expressive message" and get "focused on its mission" - our mission. Continue to be the place that kids of all backgrounds can feel comfortable, grow into productive citizens and come into their own - whatever that may be.

And for goodness sake, don't make me think twice when my own sons find my Boy Scout Handbook and ask me when they can join. The scouting experience is too important to their future.

- Ted Kniesche
Troop 101, Eagle Scout, 1996

The Desert in the Oasis

2012-05-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

The sun had dipped into the desert several hours before. But for our own headlights and occasional westbound traffic, we continued on in the darkness. Highway 10 seemed to continue indefinitely through an expanse of nothing.

It was early March and we were on our way to watch spring training baseball for a long weekend. My three-year-old son had been talking about it since his December birthday – a result of him witnessing his first World Series win before he turned two. Winning was fun. As the miles continued we sometimes wondered to each other about the merits of driving versus flying. Despite everyone’s advice to the contrary, the thought of dragging a double-stroller, six suitcases, diaper bags, car seats, Curious George and two little kids through an airport two hours before a flight reminded us of the wisdom of our decision.

Smiling, yet exhausted, we laughed about how two kids that weighed a combined 45 pounds could make a 13-hour drive over two days more attractive than a two and a half hour direct flight to Phoenix. How times had changed.

As the drive wore on, red brake lights and flashing caution signs interrupted the darkness. All vehicles were advised of a checkpoint ahead.

With little attention paid to our general location, we guessed it was some sort of DUI checkpoint – in the middle of the desert.

As the speed limit quickly descended from 70 mph to 25 mph, we neared what we soon realized was the Arizona / California border crossing. Floodlights lit up the horizon and dozens of flashing immigration vehicle lights surrounded the border. Our car slowed to a single-file line as we approached a crowd of several dozen police officers and immigration officials.

“Welcome to Arizona,” I muttered.

The politics around immigration had certainly been building for years. Efforts in 2008 to work a compromise through Congress that would have recognized the status of undocumented immigrants and provided a path towards citizenship for millions of people in the U.S. had failed. As the political landscape changed with the rise of Tea Party politics in 2010 and a massive U.S. recession continued to linger, the immigration debate had become part of an ugly political atmosphere. Arizona made itself ground zero for that debate.

In the middle of the night in the desert, Arizona’s argument lit up the barren rocky landscape. Each vehicle was stopped and questioned. Trucks were automatically diverted to a separate line and inspected. We wondered if we were entering Arizona from California or returning to the U.S. from Mexico. Our conversation ceased and we turned off the satellite radio.

Of course, our anxiety was almost as naïve as our original surprise. As we approached the officers with our windows rolled down and squinted at their flashlights, ready to answer their questions, their hardened expressions shifted to soft smiles and we were waived on through without hesitation. My two blonde-haired kids remained asleep in the back of the car as we continued past the officers, our car never coming to a complete stop. To our right, a Latino family had been pulled over and was being searched and questioned. Other vehicles we couldn’t make out had been stopped and were swarmed with officials. Police dogs circled every vehicle.

I suddenly wondered if Governor Brewer had been through this checkpoint in the middle of the night.

As quickly as they arrived, the lights faded and we were once again driving alone in the dark, the white road markers flying by us in rapid succession.

We drove on in silence.

During the miles ahead, we wondered if it was better that our kids had slept through that experience. It was nearly midnight. Perhaps they were too young to understand.

The lights had now completely disappeared behind us. The sky was once again blanketed with stars and we continued on in silence. Our kids, who were perhaps too young to understand, slept quietly in the back of the car. Their parents, who were old enough to understand, agreed that they didn’t.

And without answers we continued driving towards that horizon we never seem able to reach.

76 Reasons to Engage Our Kids

2011-08-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

If you thought that $4.00 gas prices were crippling the American family this summer, think again. A new service offered by your local 76 station, called the "Why Stopper", proudly enables parents to avoid those pesky questions from their six year old in the back seat by handing them a cell phone that answers their curiosity for them. Forget the debt ceiling debate folks - Americans have officially hit a new low.

The 76 station commercial is so unbelievable, it took me a second to realize I was not watching the lead-in for tonight's Jimmy Kimmel Live or the next classic skit from The Lonely Island comedians.

The scene opens in a car with two parents in the front seat trying to drive and follow directions, while their son repeatedly asks questions such as "why is the sky blue", "why do birds fly" and so on. The narrator immediately cuts in and declares "This is a problem. But now there's the Why Stopper from your friends at 76. Our knowledge retrieval professionals have recorded the answer to almost any child's question. . . so you can drive in peace." And finally, 76 boasts, "We're not just top-tier gas, we're on the driver's side." Hallelujah!

(If this doesn't feel wrong to you, then read no further, you'll waste your time.)

It's easy to leave this advertisement at the doorstep of 76 - a retail gas station owned by the oil company ConocoPhillips. There they go again. In addition to hiking up gas prices, polluting the air and raising the sea level with global warming, Big Oil is going after the American family. But not so fast. 76 is a large, sophisticated company that undoubtedly selected this commercial from one of several advertising agency proposals who know viewers better than viewers know themselves.

So my question is simple: What does it say about parents - the target audience for this commercial - that a multi-million dollar advertising agency and a billion dollar oil company believe that a service designed to ignore your kids is likely to sell more gasoline?

In many ways, it shouldn't be surprising that someone came up with a service that allows a cell phone to answer our kid's questions. Rear-seat DVD players are standard options in most cars today. I've lost count of how many times I've seen kids at the restaurant table next to us playing video games on an iPad or their own cell phone while their parents silently eat breakfast. When we take our kids to the park, it's notable how many parents sit on the picnic tables talking on their cell phones while their kids play by themselves. The cell phone encyclopedia seems to follow the trend.

It is easy to point fingers when it comes to uncomfortable trends about our kids. Just this morning, NPR's The California Report discussed the stresses faced by kids with "too much homework". Naturally parents are blaming education, demanding that schools reduce homework loads so that kids have more time for other activities.

I'm not an education expert and I won't pretend to know how much homework is too much. But the 76 commercial makes you wonder what's really behind the homework uproar. Especially in the lower grades, homework isn't just work for the kids - it requires parent involvement too. Parents should be as much a part of their child's education as the teacher, helping kids study multiplication tables, review flash cards, comment on essays, and discuss history topics, current events or a new novel. But when parents today are buying cell phone services that answer questions for their kids, is homework stress more a reflection of parent's stress with their kids?

Incredibly, a recent study in partnership with Stanford University says that kids age 8-18 spend over 7 hours per day using entertainment media, or 53 hours per week. That's longer than the average American adults spends doing their day job. Kids have so much leeway to play video games and watch television, parenting is no longer a contact sport. With parents willing to outsource their kids' education to teachers (or a 76 Station cell phone answering service), it's no wonder homework is under fire and being flanked from both parents and kids alike.

For full disclosure, I have only been a parent for two and a half years and the fact that my son's favorite word these days is "no" means that I don't spend my time with him answering his questions. Rather, our days are spent tracking his every move around the house, asking him if he wants to go potty or if his underpants are still dry. My wife and I are also guilty, from time to time, of putting him in front of Curious George or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when we're trying to get dinner ready, care for our six month old or just have quiet time of our own - even if for ten minutes. But for a kid who has more energy than a nuclear power plant, we convince ourselves daily that this doesn't make us bad parents.

Nevertheless, as much as I look forward to Little League and soccer practice, I eagerly await my kids' curiosity and I hope to have a front-row seat for their intellectual growth and understanding. I look forward to the day when they can make an argument for why I'm wrong. And it's our job as parents to prepare them for that day and give them the tools they need to think on their own and challenge the norms around them. This is what makes them good people and productive citizens.

In the time I've spent being a parent and observing my own and others, I've realized that parenting is many things if not difficult, challenging, hard and tiring. But in no way is it - or should it be - a chore. We cannot have the same reaction to reading our kids stories, commenting on their English paper, or simply answering their questions as we do to our boss who says he needs those reports over the weekend. Because if that's the case, if that's the world in which we choose to raise our kids, then lookout. This will be one deficit we'll never repay.

Ten Years On - It's Time to Win

2011-05-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

As the Afghan War surpasses its first decade, it is imperative that we require more from our political leadership - and more from ourselves - so as to mitigate another decade of conflict. Over six thousand service members have died since September 11, 2001, including tens of thousands wounded. We are still deeply involved in Iraq following the aftermath of that invasion and we're overtly and covertly engaged in conflicts throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. This has the look of a world war - only longer.

Ten years after the devastating attacks on September 11th, we have killed Bin Laden and prevented a major attack on U.S. soil, but we have yet to muster the political will to win this global conflict. Not the will to send more kids overseas to fight an ongoing war, but the will back home to win.

While teenage and 20-something Marines patrol remote villages in Afghanistan, while Raymond Davis and dozens more CIA officers like him hunt terrorist networks across Central Asia at great personal risk, the American public, media and political class fret over Donald Trump's claims that the President doesn't have a valid birth certificate.

It is not good enough for us to rely on the overwhelmingly disproportionate sacrifices from the all-volunteer military and intelligence communities and their families who bear the brunt of this war. Our reliance on military "surges" as our only policy tool deepens their sacrifice - without end.

It's unconscionable to me that a ten year global war still rages and we have yet to mobilize our country to win it. From the uneasy days after 9/11 to today, Americans are urged by their leaders and encouraged by each other to go about their business. It started when President Bush famously told people to keep shopping after 9/11 and it continues today with the public's obsession over who will be on the ticket a year from now to challenge President Obama.

But what of the ten year war?

History can be instructive. Below is an excerpt from an interview on the NPR program Fresh Air with Lester Brown, Founder of the World Watch Institute. It's worth reading in its entirety, which is why I pasted it below. It tells a story of how the political leadership responded to a seemingly insurmountable challenge and rapidly mobilized a nation to win.

President Roosevelt didn't exactly ask Americans to just keep shopping.

"Sometimes you're asked if you're an optimist or a pessimist, and someone answered that question recently and said it's too late to be a pessimist. And I think that sums it up well. But one of the things I do is go back and look at the economic history of World War II, and realize that we totally restructured the U.S. industrial economy almost overnight.

The attack on Pearl Harbor came on December 7th, 1941. It was extraordinarily successful in military terms, sinking, you know, sinking a large part of the U.S. Pacific fleet that happened to be at anchor there.

But then a month later, January 6th, 1942, President Roosevelt gave his State of the Union address in which he laid out arms production goals. He said we're going to produce 45,000 tanks, 60,000 planes, thousands of ships. And people just couldn't relate to that because we were still in a Depression mode economy at the time.

But what Roosevelt and his colleagues knew was that the largest concentration of industrial power in the world at the time was in the U.S. automobile industry. So after his State of the Union address, he called in the leaders of the industry and said because you guys represent such a large share of our industrial capacity, we are going to rely heavily on you to help us reach these arms production goals.

And they said well Mr. President, we're going to do whatever we can. But it's going to be a stretch producing cars and all these arms too. He said you don't understand. We're going to ban the sale of automobiles in the United States. And that's exactly what we did. And we'd been producing three million a year even during the Depression.

We banned the sale of automobiles. So from early 1942 until the end of 1944, there were essentially no cars produced in the United States and we exceeded every one of those arms production goals. In the end, we didn't produce 60,000 planes, we produced 229,000 planes.

I mean, even today, it's difficult to visualize how we could do that. But the encouraging thing is that we did that and it didn't take decades to restructure the U.S. industrial economy, it didn't take years. We did it in a matter of months. And if we did that then, then certainly we can restructure the energy economy much more rapidly than most people think and thus, be able to stabilize climate before it spirals out of control."

While voters and the media debate which clown should be on the ticket in 2012 to challenge President Obama, I would like to first know who is going to marshal US policy through the prism of winning this war.

Where is a comprehensive energy policy that truly mitigates the use of oil, one of the central political and economic destabilizing factors in our current war. Countless energy targets have been called for in speech after speech, with little result.

Similarly, good economic policies strengthen the American economy and provide it flexibility to support transformative events like the so-called "Arab Spring", which could be the single most important long-term victory in our war against radical Islam - if it can be sustained. To strengthen democratization efforts, we need to offer aid packages, infrastructure development, political and civil society support and economic trade packages. That's how we bring the troops home.

The U.S. was attacked on December 7, 1941 and Roosevelt wanted 60,000 planes to fight back. He got 229,000 of them. Where are our planes?

He or she who can mobilize that kind of success - whether or not they have a verifiable birth certificate - gets my vote.

Endless October

2010-10-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

It was almost unbearable to watch.

It felt as if we'd been there before. So much anticipation, so much hope riding on the next swing of the bat. For countless Spring seasons, we've predicted that (or wondered if) this might actually be our year, knowing deep down that we always end up short. Silly rabbit, World Series rings are for Yankees. Supporting a team in a city that has never brought a World Series championship home to its fog-loving faithful takes its toll.

When would we ever see a parade down Market Street?

With the game tied 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, the San Francisco Giants had lost the momentum against a formidable Phillies team after an early lead. I sat in my seat holding my hat in my hands, replaying the images of past seasons that never were.

There was 1989, when the Giants seemed to have everything going for them coming off a powerful NLCS win over the Chicago Cubs, only to have their momentum crushed by the forces of nature as a 7.0 earthquake derailed the Giants and any chance of avoiding a sweep by their cross-town rivals. (Yes, I'm blaming it on the earthquake)

There was 1993, when the Giants had two 20-game winning pitchers, a mean closer and a star-studded lineup who racked up 103 wins during the regular season. If the Atlanta Braves weren't in the NL Western Division or if there was a Wild Card at the time, it might have been the Giants' year. But the season came down to that final Sunday, with the Braves winning and the Giants losing. No playoffs.

Then there was the 2000 series against the Mets, where late inning heroics by J.T. Snow were countered by New York's Benny Agbayani in a 13th inning walk off home run to take a 2-1 series lead. The Giants never recovered.

And of course, the horror of 2002 when the Giants were eight outs away in game six from winning the World Series and shutting up the Anaheim rally monkey, only to orchestrate one of the biggest meltdowns in World Series history that led to the Angles taking the crown in game 7.

But tonight, Aubrey Huff stepped to the plate. Huff, a long-time veteran and accomplished ball player, had never been to the playoffs before this year. He was due. He had to be due. Here's your chance, I thought to myself. I dipped my head in my hands, afraid that I'd seen this movie before.

But for one big reason, this year was different.

My youngest brother, who has been battling cancer for the last six years, relapsed on September 1st with an aggressive form of leukemia. The relapse was his third since he was diagnosed shortly after his nineteenth birthday, just one semester into his tenure at the University of Michigan. Fighting cancer, especially a blood cancer that returns time and again, is an experience nobody can begin to explain or appreciate unless you go through it yourself - whether personally or with a close relative. It is a brutal and frightening world all its own.

His fight against leukemia has sapped much of his strength. Even during periods of remission he was sick. His side effects went way beyond reactions to chemotherapy. The combination of a weakened immune system and years of medication have taken its toll. You name it, he's probably had it.

His latest relapse couldn't be more serious and he is truly in a fight for his life.

And yet, through it all, his one sanctuary seems to be sitting in the stands and following what he clearly feels is his favorite Giants team yet. I couldn't agree more. It's no wonder he has taken to this team - a combination of young stars and veterans all scrapping and fighting with every ounce of their beings to contribute as the collective underdogs that they are.

The 2010 Giants are so different from the teams of year's past. There is no dominating star like those during the years with Barry Bonds or Will Clark. In fact, two of the teams highest salaried players get very little playing time - one, Barry Zito, didn't even make the playoff roster.

Rather, you learn to expect the unexpected from the unlikeliest of corners. Cody Ross, who the Giants pulled off the waiver wire just over a month ago, hasn't stopped hitting home runs and driving runners in. A rookie catcher named Buster Posey commands the league's best pitching staff and hits like a 10-year veteran. An off-the-wall closing pitcher named Brian Wilson is as good for his post game quotes and interviews as he is for striking batters out in the ninth inning with sheer hatred and intensity. These guys play hard and earn every win they get.

What I like most about them is that in April of this year, nobody (maybe not even themselves) would have picked them to win the NLCS or especially the World Series. Even tonight as they're on the brink of knocking off the two time NL Champions, they probably don't get that much respect around the country.

While my brother received his news in early September and his health worsened with successive treatments, the Giants seemed to rise to the occasion. Their record in September was 18-8 and their pitching staff threw a near-record 1.78 ERA since he got sick again. We traveled with him to Colorado to see the Giants steal 2 crucial games from the Rockies before coming home to San Francisco to ultimately clinch the NL West title against San Diego. He attended every home game. The last part of September was almost a playoff atmosphere as the team nobody thought could win was winning and contending for a real playoff spot. He traveled recently to Philadelphia, describing with joy the silence of Philadelphia fans after Ross homered in game 1 to take a crucial 1-0 series lead.

My brother's happiness seems to track their success and for that reason above all others I hope for one win after another.

So with first baseman Huff at bat, it seemed as if so much more was at stake. Do it for him, I thought.

With one out, Huff lined a single off the first pitch he saw and was followed by a screaming single from rookie sensation Buster Posey, in a memorable night for the young catcher.

With one out, runners at the corners and Uribe at bat, the win was in our sites. But so was the double-play ball, a scenario I couldn't help but fear, remembering all of the years growing up and watching opportunities slip by and seasons come up short.

Of course, Uribe popped a sacrifice fly to left field, deep enough to score Huff for an electrifying win. A sac fly deep enough to keep us all going, to keep us all believing that good things do come to those who suffer.

As I stood there watching thousands of fans chant "U-uribe, U-uribe" in Willie Mays Plaza, I couldn't help but smile, hoping they could keep this October season going and show us all how the improbable can always be possible.

Whether or not we end up with a parade on Market Street, I have no idea. I've followed the Giants long enough to know that the final chapter is nowhere near written. But as we turned to leave for home, I heard my brother say "I started thinking about a Market Street parade today." And tonight, that's good enough for me.

"Not a Chance" Says the Coward

2010-08-30T01:04:00.000-07:00

The most disappointing comment from political entertainer Glen Beck following the so-called "Restore Honor" rally in Washington DC on Saturday, was that there is "zero chance" he'd run for President. "I don't think that I would be electable," he told Fox News when asked if his popularity made him a likely candidate for a 2012 ticket with Sarah Palin. Too bad.

And not just for fans of Saturday Night Live. Too bad for this Country that Mr. Beck is self-aware enough to not test his political agenda out in a real election. After all, an intensive two-year Presidential race provides an unparalleled venue and level of scrutiny that would most certainly expose Glen Beck for who he really is: a political coward who isn't ready for the Bush Leagues, let alone the Major Leagues.

In the protective shell of his television and radio shows or at rallies like Saturday's with several hundred thousand hand-picked supporters, Mr. Beck is effective at captivating people and convincing them that there's plenty to fear in life - especially in Washington. But on the campaign trail, where messages are thoroughly scrutinized and facts are checked by armies of journalists and interns, substance matters.

So it's no wonder that the television host wants nothing to do with politics. Why get in the game when you can continue living (and perpetuating) the lie? Who wants to deal with reality when you can continue making over $30 million a year defying it?

I confess (proudly) I'm not a regular viewer of Mr. Beck's, but I'm not a regular viewer of any of the major network "news" programs. However, the few episodes I have caught and the bit I've read about him these past few months as his star has risen is enough to know why he'd never get in the game and actually run for President. In one such episode, he posted photos of Obama's relatives, parents, wife and kids on his chalk board, much like Russel Crowe did in American Gangster when he was trying to root out corruption in the NYPD. During the course of his program, Mr. Beck went through each member of the greater Obama family and casually asserted various experiences and vague associations (e.g. his Parent's attendance at some "Red Church" near Seattle) as the basis for President Obama's socialist DNA. Down the Obama Family tree he went, cutting into commercials and promising that when he returned, we would see why Obama - it almost wasn't his fault - had no choice but to be a socialist.

Absent from the Obama Family tree were any "fair and balanced" facts, debate, points of view, discussion. It was a one-man circus stunt that was meant to play on the fears of white Americans who feel disenfranchised by an ailing economy, immigration, globalization and a more diverse racial and ethnic population. He's so successful at it that he can summon the likes of 300,000+ supporters to spend their hard-earned money to travel to Washington DC and listen to the same nonsense they listen to every night on his TV program.

But put Mr. Beck on the podium in a conservative primary (no way he'd get to the general election) and make him answer questions from fellow candidates, journalists or YouTube voters and he'll come up empty. How could he defend on live television his comments alleging that President Obama is a racist, other than to say that sometimes he "has a big mouth". How could he sell to voters his political "agenda" beyond his routine branding of everyone who doesn't watch his program as traitors, terrorists and socialists? It would likely be a quick debate and a quick exit from the political stage for Mr. Beck.

By not forcing Mr. Beck to come from a place of substance and fact, we let him off the hook while he laughs all the way to the bank. But the real danger of Mr. Beck is not that he wins the Republican nomination for President. He and Sarah Palin would drive so many moderate conservative and independent voters to Obama in 2012, Democrats wouldn't know what to do with themselves. In fact, if anyone fears the likes of Mr. Beck as a Presidential candidate, spend four minutes watching him get cornered by Whoopi Goldberg on The View over some stupid seat-saving incident on an Amtrak train to DC. When she accused him of lying and not telling the truth, he cowered like a rodent being chased by a broom. It was pathetic seeing him out of his comfort zone and unable to retreat to Bill O'Reilley for a pat on the back. Imagine when Katie Couric gets a hold of him. . .

The real danger of Mr. Beck is if he continues to rally anger on the American right, unchallenged. He effectively stirs the personal anger and emotions of regular Americans with lies and distortions of reality, then he rants about immigration and illegals, makes viewers fear our "socialist" President who may or may not have been born here in the first place and tells you that unless this country turns to God (read: Christianity, not any other God) and away from Mosques at Ground Zero, we'll never regain our Honor. He steps on the hornets nest and then draws up images of revolution. Let's reclaim our honor and our country. How and what does that mean? He doesn't say. Better to leave the specifics to the general public to figure them out for themselves - or worse, let them take matters into their own hands as some border militias have done in the Southwest to "hunt down illegals" like they're some sort of game bird. And history shows that class and racial warfare can get much worse.

For Mr. Beck, it's better to tell the patient that he's dying and then offer no prescription or remedy for the ailment. After all, prescriptions and remedies require advanced degrees, knowledge and experience - none of which Mr. Beck really has. As he admits, he delivers "news" in an entertaining way. Kind of how the circus takes animals who would normally be stuck at the zoo and displays them in an entertaining way. Yes, he's definitely the clown at the circus. That's how you get good ratings on Fox News. But it's not what wins elections - a reality that Mr. Beck is all too aware of and why he'd never go toe-to-toe with any serious Presidential candidate, let alone the President himself.

"Not a chance," Mr. Beck told Fox News referring to 2012. Wise choice perhaps. But someone who backs down from a fight they start because they know they can't win is also what kids on the playground call a coward.

Fear and Loathing in Manhattan: Americans on the Wrong Side in Shameful 'Mosque' Revolt

2010-08-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

Take a look at a story that appeared buried in this morning's New York Times about the recent Presidential election in Rwanda. In the story, a spokesman for the National Security Council, Mike Hammer, rightly criticizes Rwanda for not going far enough to implement democratic reforms following the horrific genocide in 1994.

But before you skim the first few paragraphs and move on to more pressing news, notice Mr. Hammer's quote at the end of the story, in which he describes the meaning of democracy:

"'Democracy is about more than holding elections,' Mr. Hammer said. 'A democracy reflects the will of the people, where minority voices are heard and respected, where opposition candidates run on the issues without threat or intimidation, where freedom of expression and freedom of the press are protected.'"

Mr. Hammer should hit the U.S. speaking speaking circuit and give lectures on civics and public policy. These days, Americans themselves need a reminder of what it means to live in a democracy.

The shameful debate raging around the country about a planned mosque near Ground Zero is one such discussion in need of Mr. Hammer's civics lesson. In the days and months after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Americans of all stripes and backgrounds agreed that the U.S. was attacked because of "our freedoms". Even if the truth was more complicated than that, it was a directionally accurate statement that seemed to fit the bumper-sticker-type rationale that the Nation desperately sought to make sense of the disbelief that befell Washington and Lower Manhattan on that horrible day in September. And the phrase stuck. If you heard it once, you heard it a million times: Islamic extremists from far away regions of the world attacked the United States "because of our freedoms."

Of course, the truth was and continues to be more complicated than that. But it didn't matter. Attacking American's way of life and its freedoms was something that resonated with people, convinced that its exceptional image was the prime motive for provoking America into a war it never asked for.

And yet, many Americans seem largely unexceptional these days as they wave signs in protest at the very thought of a mosque near Ground Zero.

Surely one would expect protest from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party mafia - what else would you expect from the woman who can see Russia from her bay window. However, since when is freedom of religion a subject of serious debate among mainstream media and citizens alike? Americans don't have to look too far down the list of Constitutional Amendments (it's the first one!) to realize that what they are protesting is completely legal and part of the very fabric of this tolerant and inclusive society. Much to the dismay of Newt Gingrich and Fox News, America is not 'a Christian Nation'. It is a secular society that goes out of its way to ensure the freedoms (yes, those same freedoms that extremists attacked on 9/11) of all of its citizens to assemble, express themselves and practice whatever faith suits them best.

The other bumper-sticker-phrase we heard in the days after 9/11 was that we as Americans need to win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims around the world. So in that spirit, Mr. Bush dropped hundreds of pounds of food for starving Afghans before commencing the swift and (initially) successful invasion of their country. Public diplomacy in this regard was on full display when the American Navy rushed to the aid of Muslims in Indonesia after the devastating Tsunami. And it's on display today as the American Navy and Marines take a leading role in the widespread and deadly flooding in Pakistan, hoping to restore the moral image of the American military as more than just a drone campaign in Northwestern Pakistan.

So with the country so focused on "winning the hearts and minds" of Muslims around the world, how does one justify this blatantly nativist and xenophobic attack on a mosque, one that over 60% of the country supposedly agrees with? Does one seriously believe, as some of the protesters allege, that the most high-profile mosque in recent memory will be the center of some covert terrorist factory? What aspiring terrorist in their right mind would set foot in that mosque after all of the attention it has received?

Sadly, this issue is on track to be a national debate and even has the President on the retreat from his refreshing comments he made recently in support of the mosque. Critics suggest that the President is "out of touch" with the mainstream of Americans. How sad for the mainstream and how valuable a lesson they could all learn from Mr. Hammer on the meaning of democracy - where "minority voices are heard and respected. . . where freedom of expression (is) protected."

In reality, this mosque probably picked the wrong year to expand and move locations. In a year that has seen a large percentage of Americans blame their economic and social status on Mexican immigrants, anyone who isn't a white, gun-toting Christian pining for smaller government is suddenly a threat to the American way of life. So goes the politics of fear that has enveloped American society since the election of the first black President and the near collapse of the American financial system two years ago. Instead of having a national discussion about how to grow America out of this recession, the politics of the lowest common denominator and network television have left us with with more bumper sticker soundbites: The economy is bad and jobs are nowhere to be found, Mexican "illegals" are to blame. . . A Mosque near Ground Zero is not only a security risk, but a slap in the face."

One protester's poster stated that "ISLAM BUILDS MOSQUES at the SITES of their CONQUESTS and VICTORIES." I'm not sure if "ISLAM" is supposed to be a person, country or what, just as I'm unclear by the poster's capitalization choice. But nevertheless, I'm more confused by the message. Who really believes that lower Manhattan was "their conquest" or "their victory". I most certainly don't.

In a different time, I imagine a member of the U.S. Senate saying something along the following lines, without fear of being dragged out of Washington DC by an angry mob:

This Nation was attacked on 9/11 because of the promise of America and the tolerance of our society as a home to people from every corner of the world. Nowhere on this planet do you have such a dynamic and integrated society with people from every walk of life living and working in relative peace together. If the United States wants to be seen around the World as it sees itself at home, it had better get its head out of its ass and stop giving Al Jazeera headlines about how Americans hate Muslims.

Perhaps that's a bridge too far in an election year. However, maybe another approach would resonate with conservatives and liberals alike.

Since the 9/11 attacks America has been embroiled in nearly a decade of war in two countries and a broader shadow war around the world. But, as Ted Koppel rightly described recently on NPR, very few Americans have sacrificed personally in support of those fighting their third, fourth and fifth tours of duty. Other than the soldiers, intelligence officers and diplomats deployed abroad, risking their lives in these difficult wars, Americans have not had to pay for the wars in the form of higher taxes, fewer luxuries, less opportunity, etc. Nothing has been asked of them personally. In fact, Mr. Bush was famously quoted as urging Americans to continue shopping after 9/11. I'm sure socialites around the country rejoiced at that directive.

Economic hardship came irrespective of these wars abroad and would have happened regardless of 9/11 as the country took on too much debt and had too little idea how money was exchanging hands on Wall Street. But today's Americans are not like those during World War II, where sons were drafted away to fight and fuel and rubber were rationed to ensure supplies were available to fight the war. Fortunately, the progress that followed World War II allows for life to pretty much go on as a global war against Islamic extremism rages in Central Asia and Eastern Africa.

So it's all the more perplexing that Americans cannot do the easy things to help make these wars a success. The Marines and US Airborne are doing the heavy lifting in Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA officers around the world do the heavy lifting at great personal risk and sacrifice. So why can't we do some of the light lifting.

Imagine the effect on the current war in Afghanistan and Pakistan - where progress is met with growing anti-American hatred and fear - if the headlines around the world focused on the US military's humanitarian rescue efforts to save thousands of victims from flooding that has engulfed over 20% of Pakistan. Imagine if New Yorkers and Americans alike celebrated (or were at least ambivalent towards) the building of a mosque, whether it be near Ground Zero or Omaha, Nebraska, as a symbol of why America is different. Let's show the world why we offer a far superior model for modern society and government than the Taliban's version. Imagine what that story would do for America's image around the world. Oh how those "hearts and minds" would start fluttering. . .

And to achieve this, we don't have to pay higher taxes, sign up for the draft, drive less to save rubber or ration gasoline. All we have to do is shut up. Shut up about the (imagined) threats that peaceful and moderate Muslims pose to Americans. Shut up about conspiracy theories where terrorists are supposedly entering the country to give birth to children and earn them citizenship so that they can return to the US 20 years later to launch attacks (I'm not going to track down that link, but it was on CNN - Anderson 360, I'm not making this up). Shut up about another conspiracy theory where Islamic mosques are slowly colonizing America with the intent of instituting Sharia law in this country. Again, I'm not making this up. These are debates raging on national television about the so-called threats posed by Muslim-Americans and you can be sure it will continue to be a campaign issue, now that the President has tried to do the right thing and support a Citizen's right to the First Amendment (how dare he).

While the majority of the country argues over religious freedom in Manhattan, the real problems fly by us - buried on page 5-10 of the newspaper. The Middle East is a geopolitical time bomb. Next to the rise of China, it might be the most serious threat we face over the next Century. It has been engulfed in several wars in the past decade and many more for decades before that. Nowhere (with the very generous exception being Iraq) does there exist a government freely elected by the people. Decades of religious conflict, political suppression and economic stagnation have stoked the turmoil. Iran and (maybe Syria) continue to pursue nuclear weapons, which has the Saudis, the UAE and other governments scared enough to buy billions of dollars worth of weapons from the US to counter Tehran. Afghanistan is getting worse by the day and stability in Iraq is measured in days where a suicide bomb doesn't go off. Oh, and then there's that pesky Israeli-Palestinian problem. Never mind the turmoil in Lebanon that nobody pays attention to and the coming turmoil in Egypt as President Mubarak prepares for a transition of power that hasn't occurred since the assassination of President Sadat in 1981. Yemen is looking like the next Afghanistan (but maybe worse) and Somalia is a completely failed State under assault from Islamic extremists. And oh, by the way, oil still matters. I feel like Billy Joel in "We Didn't Start the Fire".

The landscape is fraught with danger for future generations of Americans and poses treacherous challenges for the future economic and security interests of the United States, not to mention the interests of those who actually reside in the Middle East and Central Asia. With so much on the line, one wonders how American politics can be so obtuse. "Democracy", Mr. Hammer said as he lectured Rwanda's President in the wake of their recently rigged election, "is about more than holding elections. A democracy reflects the will of the people, where minority voices are heard and respected." How ironic then that the "Ground Zero Mosque" is where election year politics is rapidly trampling America's democratic ideals and attempting to deny peaceful Americans their 1st Amendment right to assemble and worship as they please.

Nine years, trillions of dollars, thousands of deaths and a recession later, the American electorate will tell you that they have battle fatigue. They tell you this in how they vote for exit strategies, the closing of Guantanimo Bay, smaller government, less defense spending and lower taxes. The newspapers reflect it by burying the stories of the dead and maimed soldiers somewhere inside the front section of the newspaper. No longer does the death of a 19 year-old Private warrant front-page news. And yet, tonight and for many nights in the future, young American soldiers, intelligence officers and diplomats are fighting a war that most Americans would just assume forget about. They wish it would just go away.

The problem is, for those of us paying attention, this feels like the first couple innings of an extra inning ballgame. The Dodger fans have just started arriving to the park and we've got a long way to go. Americans may be successful in drawing down troops and bringing everyone home in the next few election cycles. But the next time a large attack happens on a major U.S. city, we'll be back in Afghanistan or Waziristan or launching an invasion into Yemen or Somalia. We'll demand that the intelligence community take the gloves off (but request that they do so in accordance with the Army Field Manual). We'll spend months talking about connecting the dots, how our freedoms were attacked and how on earth can we finally win their hearts and minds. . .

Here's a thought. We can stop bitching about things that don't matter. While I'm going to be around for my second child's birth this January, dozens more will miss their kid's big day because they're in Kabul. The least I can do is the easy lifting back home. We all can. And we can start by embracing (or not giving a damn) about a mosque / community center near Ground Zero.

Instead, we can pay attention. Pay attention to the real threats we face and demand that our leaders do the same. We can have a national conversation about the resources we'll need as a nation to win this war - over the next several generations. For the American culture of quick fixes and immediate satisfaction, the global war on terror is going to be a big letdown for many of you. And you thought Ken Burns' documentaries were long and tedious. . .

Most importantly, we can participate. Oh, right, that democracy thing again. . . Yes, that democracy thing. What Mr. Hammer didn't say to Rwanda, but might say to an audience on his new lecture circuit, is that democracy is not only a right, but it is a responsibility. It is only as strong as the citizens who participate.

So for our own sake, forget about the mosque. Let your fellow citizens do what they want and don't feel so threatened by everyone around you. It's embarrassing to see so many people in this country terrified by people who are different. Stop worrying about Sharia Law overrunning the Constitution. My God, if it can't take hold in Afghanistan, I highly doubt it will dominate the laws of Texas.

If you want something to lose sleep over, pick up the paper and pay attention to what's happening in the Middle East and Central Asia. That's our real national security threat and one that we ignore (and bungle) at our peril.

And on we go...

2010-06-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Grandpa-

It's been two years today since you passed away and I thought I'd say hello and let you know what's been going on. Last we spoke, you guessed that Kali was pregnant with a baby girl. Well, we don't have our baby girl yet (although our second baby is on the way - so who knows), but little Max was born in December of that year and just turned 18 months. He is such a wonderful kid. He sleeps regularly, pours through books and gives an open mouth kiss to family and friends alike. He hugs, he giggles and we just taught him the high five and the fist bump. He says nana for banana and Daddy whenever he sees a family member, not just for me. Kali thinks he has your smile and I can see that he has your kindness and love for family. He runs to the top of the steps when I get home from work and he waves to me when they drop me off at the airport by opening and closing his fist until they drive out of view. He is the hit at the grocery store. He is cautious and wades into situations of uncertainty, but still takes his spills and earns his band aids. You would have adored him.

You'd be happy to know that Johnny is healthy and going to graduate school at UCLA in the Fall. He is moving beyond chemotherapy treatments and hospital visits and is excited about the future. Mark is engaged, happy and set to be married in June. He misses your phone calls to see how the market is doing, although you are better off not knowing what the market has done since you've been gone. You were right all along... The big crash came and it's been ugly. Your warnings about excessive debt and a runaway market were more prescient than you'll ever know.

Mom and Dad are loving their new house and we've found your old house on Rock Rd across the canyon. I miss visiting you there and climbing in the oak tree on the deck. I can tell Dad misses you too. We loved our weekend at the US Open, but Carmel isn't the same without you. Everyone is taking good care of Grandma as she keeps busy and active. We think of you often.

Most of all, I miss my dominoes partner. More later.

Love, Ted

Book Review: "Home Game", By Michael Lewis

2010-06-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

I read Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (by Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and the Blind Side) yesterday on the plane home from a work trip to Florida. As a father of an eighteen month old, it was the funniest, most refreshingly honest and sincere book I've ever read in my life. For anyone looking for a Father's Day gift or just a good read, I highly recommend it. Some of the stories about his kids and the things they say or do had me in tears I was laughing so hard. And unlike most books, don't miss the introduction. It's one of the more hilarious stories you'll ever read.

USC Sanctions and a Pac-10 Expansion

2010-06-10T17:54:00.000-07:00

Quite a day of mixed emotions. . .

The University of Spoiled Children finally got what it had coming to them ever since they started putting the nation's top recruits on the payroll of Orange County executives and LA car dealerships. USC was delivered a harsh sentence, including a 2 year post-season ban and the loss of several scholarships, which is gratifying enough in itself. USC, which produces the most entitled fans on Earth, was caught with their wallet out. What's really sad for the fans though, is that they continue to revere a coach who dined and dashed. After running the best program that money could buy, Pete Carroll took off for a multi-million dollar per year contract with the Seattle Seahawks (who apparently forgot what an awful coach he was at New England), leaving USC to deal with the aftermath of his legacy. But don't feel sorry for USC. . . as their new coach Lane Kiffen said today, "USC is an extremely powerful University". That's code for, "Attention new recruits, don't drop your letters of intent just yet. . . there's more money in the USC alumni network than you can dream of and we'll find a way to give it to you if you come play for us."

And yet, as USC deals with the aftermath of their bought Rose Bowl titles, I couldn't help but think that this should be a call to action for all Cal fans: Get ready, our one and only chance to make it to the Rose Bowl begins today and ends on January 1, 2012. The California Golden Bears are now on the clock to get to a bowl game that they haven't ATTENDED since 1959 and haven't won since before my Grandfather patrolled the shores of North African with the US Navy during WWII. If there was anytime for Cal Football to get our act together, it's this season or next.

And to make the situation all the more urgent, Cal needs to get moving before the Pac-10 expansion takes effect and schools like Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State join the expanded Pac-16 conference. I have to admit, I briefly reveled in the thought that the Pac-16 will soon kick the crap out of the SEC every season, no matter what sport we're talking about. It's like when I was in the 5th grade and our class played the 7th graders in kickball. The 7th graders kicked our ass every lunch break. There was no contest. They were two years older at a time in your life when two years means six inches in height and the ability to kick the ball far and hard. It was that way almost the entire school year. . . until . . . the 8th graders joined our team and kicked every ball over the fence while we ran the bases for them. Same thing. The 8th graders are now joining the Pac-10 conference and we don't have to take the insults any longer from the SEC. (And as an aside, yes, I am still bitter about Labor Day weekend a few years ago in Knoxville when Number 9 Cal got the shit kicked out of us by Number 23 Tennessee and we had to endure 110,000 orange-shirted rednecks remind us that the Pac-10 sucks ass). No longer. The 8th graders are on our team and it's game over for every other conference in the Country.

However, after that revelation, I came back to the reality that if Cal can't get to the Rose Bowl with USC in our conference, we certainly won't get there with Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State added to the season schedule. But until the conference is officially expanded in 2012 and until USC is done taking their timeout at the dining room table, Cal has a moment to shine. But the pressure is going to be on for Jeff Tedford, because once the window closes, it'll be back to normal for Cal fans ("normal" by the way entails Cal getting really excited about going undefeated in non-conference play in September and then blowing a few crucial games, before bleeding out the rest of the season and ending up in either the Holiday Bowl or the Emerald Nut Bowl, or some pre-Christmas Bowl that nobody watches).

Here's to hoping we make the best of these next 19 months.

- Go Bears.

Top 10 Suggestions for the Airline Industry & TSA

2010-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

For someone who travels constantly on airplanes, I have a few suggestions. . .

10. Every action has a reaction. Charging for bags is no different. Instead of reducing the amount of luggage checked on a plane, airlines have forced passengers to carry everything they can handle with them onto the plane. Drop the baggage fees and we'll all have more overhead space.

9. The TSA categories (you know what I'm talking about: "Family, Casual and Expert Traveler") might be the most poorly executed idea ever. For one, it's not used consistently at any airport. Two, nobody pays attention to it, they simply gravitate to the shortest line. Three, a system that requires passengers to police themselves about who is a "casual traveler" versus an "expert traveler" is absurd. Give me a job with the TSA (with multiple lunch breaks) and i'll sit there and tell you exactly who belongs in the "Expert Traveler" line versus the "Casual Traveler" line. It's not complicated. In an attempt to level the playing field and not offend those who buy a coach ticket or travel infrequently, TSA has created a system that is totally ineffective. Let's go back to the old system, the American way of pay-to-play. . . if you pay through the nose for a ticket or fly all the time, you deserve to jump to the head of the line.

8. Please stop searching grandmas like they are on the terrorist watch list or just got off a one-way flight from Yemen. If a 90 year old lady forgets to take her glasses out of her pocket, you do not need to make her spread her feet and hands apart while wanding her with a security stick, then pour through her luggage before making her put it all back in her bag.

7. It's generally not encouraging to sit in line at security while the guy who's supposed to be checking the x-ray screen is going on about his weekend and how hungover he is. . .

6. Attention all pilots: I don't want to know what's wrong with the plane. Lie to me. Tell me you forgot to fill out the paperwork or that air traffic control has a ground hold due to fog in San Francisco. . . anything, just don't tell me the truth.

5. Please stop printing in-flight menus that claim to have food created with the vision of some award winning chef, as if that justifies charging $5 for a cookie. Just sell us the crappy airline food and don't insult us by making us think that it came from someone who has a show on the Food Network. The plastic sealed wrapper kind of gives it away.

4. Take a cue from the public jokes made about road workers. . . don't have 2 security lines open at LAX and 10 TSA employees hanging around, watching the line, talking to each other, doing nothing.

3. Offer United and American flight attendants retirement packages with jobs as after-school detention monitors, where grumpiness and scowls are actually effective ways of dealing with people. Then hire the HR department at Virgin America and find out where they get happy workers. Is it the HEPA air filtration system on their planes?

2. Attention all domestic airlines: Be more like Virgin America and Southwest (for the flexible ticket policies, not the peanuts) in every way possible.

1. After 8.5 years since 9/11, can someone find a wrench and even out the metal tables we use to slide our bins towards the security belt? Is a series of uneven tables the best we can do with our 9/11 security fee we pay on every ticket?

The Torture of Eight Lost Years

2009-07-22T02:08:00.000-07:00

Amid the debates around serious topics such as health care policy and the treatment of detained terrorists, I'd like to offer a perspective. Perhaps I should be more outraged by the so-called "Torture Memos" and the ongoing torture controversy in Washington. But I'm not. I can't stop wondering how Americans, who seem so concerned about the treatment of suspected terrorists, could allow eight years to pass while the Bush Administration prevented advancements in stem cell research. Those eight lost years were a devastating reversal of momentum for patients who suffer every day from deadly diseases - patients like my younger brother Johnny who hope stem cell science might offer them a more certain future.

Johnny, 23, has fought Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia for more than four years. Johnny is not a terrorist who plotted to kill Americans. He and millions like him - our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters - want peaceful lives, free of hospitals, medication and uncertainty. Before a tear is shed for detained terrorists, we owe our loved ones a firm commitment to alleviate their suffering with every scientific tool at our disposal. We must never again squander the potential to improve and save the lives of those who suffer from serious illnesses.

For four years, my family and I had a front-row seat to Johnny's unbelievable suffering, which makes the "Torture Memos" seem mild in comparison. Following his diagnosis the day after Christmas in 2004, Johnny underwent months of grueling chemotherapy. The drugs caused him to lose a significant amount of weight, vomit profusely, grow so weak that he could barely get out of bed and walk down the hall. He lost his hair, his eyes were sunken and he grew extremely pale and exhausted. Later that summer, he was admitted to the ICU at Stanford for a life-threatening case of shingles and a number of other serious complications. During the next 18 months, he endured maintenance chemotherapy. His attempts to return to the University of Michigan campus were foiled by constant hospitalizations with serious viruses and illnesses.

Three months after his hard-fought victory over Lymphoma, jaw pain led to a devastating relapse - Leukemia. Previous chemo treatments were deemed insufficient and he underwent new chemotherapy regiments and ultimately a bone marrow transplant. To receive his transplant, Johnny's immune system was brought "down to zero" and wiped out, which is a terrifying experience to endure both physically and mentally. Physically, he underwent powerful chemo treatments that amplified the suffering he experienced in his first chemotherapy regiments. Mentally, he had to deal with the reality that if his transplant was not successful, he would be without an immune system and unable to survive. Would the transplant be a perfect match? How would it react to his body? How would his body react to the new immune system? A common cold could be lethal. The first days and weeks would be critical to determine survival. And so forth and so on.

Through it all, Johnny survived round after round of horrendous chemo treatments, countless medications, successive steroid treatments, numerous illnesses and pneumonia. Recently, following his final exams at Michigan, he ended up in the hospital again, sick with a potentially severe case of pneumonia and possible lung damage. More than a year after his bone marrow transplant and four years after his initial diagnosis, the suffering continues. While there is no doubt in my mind he will survive this horrific period in his life, his future is mired in uncertainty, haunted by the fear of a relapse.

Johnny deserves a more certain future. While it is not government's job to cure his illness, it is the responsibility of government to get out of the way and let others do so. The Obama Administration's policy reversal is clearly welcomed. But Americans must go further and summon the courage to take on the hypocrisy of the "pro life" movement that stymied eight years of science - science that promises a brighter future for my brother and millions more Americans who are not threats to national security. It is their well being we should strive to protect before all others.

Impassioned views to the contrary are not without merit. But before you profess such opinions, try walking in Johnny's shoes. Take the elevator to "11 Long", which is the bone marrow transplant ward at UCSF Medical Center. Notice the masked patients who shuffle the hallways endlessly with their IV stations, desperate to gain the strength to be able to go home. Watch the suffering in their eyes and in the hearts of their families and loved ones. Listen to the IV drip machines beeping throughout the night. Notice little kids with bald heads, deep set eyes and uncertain futures. And then tell me that the smell of chemotherapy doesn't sicken you.

While Americans spend the summer wondering how we could have treated terrorists more humanely, my brother's struggle with his illness continues. Eight years of possibility were squandered and I'm tired of watching him suffer.