Thought $450 billion was a high deficit number? Try $500 billion for next year–and that’s just the initial estimate, bound to go even higher once tax cuts and defense spending are factored in. Deficits are bound to stay above $300 billion for the next decade, according to the same report.

If, that is, we keep the GOP in charge of the economy.

The huge tax cut was swept in primarily under the idea that since we had such a huge surplus, and a surplus means we’re charging taxpayers too much. Sorry, I want to be civil, but that’s just plain stupid. If you personally have, say, $50,000 in debts, and suddenly, you find yourself making enough money to start paying off those debts, is your conclusion going to be that you are working too hard and need to cut back? Or are you going to start paying off that crippling debt? Any fiscally responsible person will start paying the debt.

Another criminally moronic reason: “It’s your money.” Well, of course it’s your money. It’s also your national debt.

Some people say that having the debt there is a positive thing, usually using convoluted and wishful thinking, but the fact of the matter is that we will spend something around $375 billion this year alone to pay interest on the debt, and probably close to $4 trillion over the next ten years.

Think about it. Four trillion dollars. And that will not be paid to reduce the debt, but only to maintain it. And that’s assuming that interest rates stay low. Can you imagine what could be done with that money? These interest payments are the third biggest expenditure, after entitlements and defense–and paying interest on the debt is threatening to overtake defense spending.

Remember back in the 80’s, when people warned that our children and grandchildren would pay for the deficits? Well, that’s what we’re doing, and Bush Jr. is pushing up the tab, after Clinton and the Democrats came so close to actually starting to pay off the debt. With the money we spend to pay the interest, we could be doing so much–revitalizing the educational system, guaranteeing solid social security and medicare, strengthening defense, the list goes on–it could pay for all of that. Instead, we fail to learn, even as we pay the painful price.

The debt today is $6,787,289,153,093.89 (according to the Treasury Dep’t.). It may very well break $10 trillion by the end of the decade.

Bush claims he has cut our taxes, but the truth is he is raising them tremendously–because the interest on the national debt is a tax, and under Bush, that tax will rise dramatically.

The first step we need to take is to roll back the tax cuts, as the flawed rationale for making them is no longer valid, even under the guise of wishful thinking. The tax cuts have not helped the economy, and it is crystal clear that the wealthy, at least, are not spending the money in ways that revitalize the economy, as claimed. (The Bush people will tell you the jury is still out, but they’re just waiting for the economic tide to turn naturally and then pounce on it to take credit.) Remember when Clinton raised taxes in ’93–and then we had the biggest economic surge in history? Not direct cause-and-effect, to be certain, but absolutely evidence that tax levels and the economy are not exactly linked so tightly.

At the very least, we should immediately repeal all tax cuts given to people making more than, say, half a million dollars a year. (Do I hear shouts of, “But that’s not fair!” Hey, rich people got far more in tax cuts over the past 20 years than the middle class; to make things “fair,” you have to raise their taxes, not cut them.)

After that, we’re going to have to take a long, hard look at how we spend out money–and that means cutting spending on programs both parties prefer. (I hate it when one side accuses the other of overspending, when the “overspending” is always on the priorities of the other parties, never their own. In Washington, everyone, by definition, is a spender.)

Do I have real hope this will happen? Certainly not with the GOP pulling all the strings. They are not exactly known to compromise, and despite past reputation, they are now no longer the party of fiscal responsibility.

Security. One of the biggest concerns for someone with a PC, using the Internet. You gotta have good anti-virus software. A friend of mine recently lost a big chunk of her data and had to re-install, then later re-format her hard drive, likely due to a virus attack. The IT dep’t. at the college I work for was recent besieged by the Blaster worm, and is constantly under assault by various viruses, Trojans and worms.

Me? I have no anti-virus software. Haven’t for as long as I can remember. And I’ve never been hit by a virus. Why? I own a Mac.

This article does a nice job of explaining, simply, why Windows is practically a magnet for such attacks. It points out that it’s not just because Windows is the most-used OS out there, but rather because Windows is full of security holes, a massive sieve, in fact. Witness the endless stream of “critical” security fixes that clamor to be installed by your version of XP. I know, I’ve been running XP on a Windows box next to my Mac for a year now. A major hassle in comparison.

And yet IT departments continue to claim they need PC’s running Microsoft’s OS and software. Why? Simple. They like their jobs. They know that if they install Macs, they will need fewer staff to maintain the system. IT staff have traditionally been hostile to Macs, claiming that they are more expensive (untrue, when you include IT maintenance), incompatible (also untrue, with Mac OS X providing network compatibility, most software being cross-platform with document interchangeability, and Virtual PC closing the remaining holes), and too bothersome for them to deal with. But the stories continue to filter through, when people get Macs and they not only work with the system, but they usually work better.

Bush’s numbers, right on schedule, have dropped below 50%. In a new poll, Bush would not be re-elected; 49% would vote against him, with 44% voting for him. Considering that these numbers do not count the idea of an actual person running against him, someone who might have something going for him, things do not look good for Bush. And as I noted earlier, decline is the natural state of Bush’s support. By the end of the year, we will likely see him at 40% or less.

What the heck is Feinstein thinking? She is urging people to vote “no” on the recall–good enough–but she is also suggesting that one should not vote for a candidate on the second part of the ballot, should the recall come through.

This makes no sense whatsoever. From a logical and strategic standpoint, it is nonsense–you only help the chances of Republicans to win California. If you’re there voting on the recall issue, it takes almost no extra effort at all to choose a name on the second part of the ballot. As a statement against the recall in itself, it is useless; perhaps if the recall were voted down and most people did not vote for a replacement, it might appear as a symbol of faith in Davis–but such a symbol would be nearly meaningless, and would seem like a slam against Bustamante, the main Democratic candidate.

So I have little idea where Feinstein is going with this; I only know that I heartily disagree. Vote, both against the recall and for Bustamante.

Religious fundamentalists, lead by the judicial zealot Roy Moore, protested yet again, many weeping, that they are being discriminated against for not being able to have a great stone monument to their religion inside a government building funded by taxpayer dollars, and representing equal justice to all. It all begs the question as to why the monument cannot reside in front of the church next door; it is similar to asking why there must be prayer in schools when children have countless opportunities elsewhere to pray. The point, though rarely spoken aloud because those who advocate it know it is against our constitutional principles, is that fundamentalists do not just want to influence morality in court houses and schools, they do not just want to reflect on the idea that American law is based on Christianity. They want to proselytize. They want to use the state as a tool to actively push the doctrine of their church and recruit more people to their faith. To their credit, they believe they are doing good. To their detriment, they know they are violating our nation’s highest laws, and they do not care.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; […]

— First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

establish: vt. Definition: To secure public recognition in favor of; to prove and cause to be accepted as true; as, to establish a fact, usage, principle, opinion, doctrine, etc.

— Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary

It is one of the most clearly established principles in our history as a country. Many of the first colonists came from countries where church and state were merged, and as a result, other religions and denominations of the same religion were persecuted and/or banned. The founders of this nation made it clear that the state cannot, indeed, must not endorse any one faith nor make it the official church of any state or of the nation.

The worthiness of this philosophy can be found in the stories of millions who came to America, including that of my grandfather. Not religious himself, he nevertheless felt that individual freedom of belief was of great importance. When Franco and the fascists began their rise to power in Spain, they promised to make the Catholic Church the national church of Spain. My grandfather, like many others, spoke out against the fascists; when they won, he closely escaped a death sentence and was forced to flee the country, emigrating to the United States. Spain suffered under such religious repression during Franco’s reign, and to this day is almost completely Catholic. Tell religious minorities there that mixing church and state doesn’t lead to discrimination and persecution.

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law regarding an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

— Thomas Jefferson

To me, the claim that the Ten Commandments are the foundation of American law, aside from being wholly inaccurate, is an attempt to lay a stone in the foundation of civil law by religious doctrine. The establishment of religious crafting and overview of civil law is the next step toward the religious persecution and disenfranchisement of those with other beliefs. Don’t accept the word of anyone who says that American law is founded upon Christianity; it just isn’t so.

The Constitution fairly repudiates the first two commandments (i.e., it leaves us free to worship other Gods than the LORD, and to make graven images), and is silent on commandments three through ten.

— Source

Fundamentalist Christian extremists have been trying to claim a religious state for some time. Some cite the fact that officials are sworn into office by placing their hand on a bible and swearing before God; however, Article VI of the constitution makes clear that no such religious test is required, and the “so help me God” tacked on to the end of the oath is absent in the constitution, added by those taking the oath, and not required by law.

Some claim that proof can be found in the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words, “under God”; however, these words were absent in the original pledge. They were added in the years after World War II when the Cold War was raging in full strength, and someone decided it would be a good way to differentiate us from the Communists.

Some may point to “In God We Trust” being printed on money; again, that is a recent addition. It was not introduced on paper money until 1957, and coins did not bear the motto regularly until 1908; before then, currency always bore the motto “Liberty.” The drive to include God was in full swing in the latter part of the 19th century–there was even a proposed amendment to the constitution that said: “humbly acknowledging almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler among nations, his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to constitute a Christian government […].” The amendment was introduced twice, and failed both times.

The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.

— James Madison

We hear protests from fundamentalists who say that excluding the Ten Commandments from public venues is bigotry, but the truth is that religious displays made, funded, or endorsed by civil government are the greatest threat of nationwide, institutionalized bigotry. It is not bigotry to exclude religion from government when it is the highest law of the land to do so, intended solely to protect the people from a potential theocracy.

The fundamentalists claim that the state “hates” the church, “hates” God, as do all who support the separation of church and state. Some few individuals may hate religion, but in the eyes of many, there could be no greater way to promote freedom of religion and worship than by maintaining this separation.

Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.

— James Madison, Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822

And yet we are still subjected, without pause, by garbage like this, in countless corners of the country, repeated ad infinitum. Not the religious mainstream, mind you, and not religion or religious people per se. The fundamentalists. I would say that they just don’t “get it,” but unfortunately, I believe they “get it” all too well, and simply don’t like it. But this is America; this is what we are. That should not change.

It’s not like we expect him not to lie or anything, but he seems to get more and more shameless concerning whom or what he steals credit from. This time it’s the ocean. “We can have good clean hydroelectric power and salmon restoration going on at the same time,” Bush said during a speech in which he claimed his policies were responsible for the increase in Salmon runs in the northwest. Bush got a great deal of applause from the stacked audience, and a nice photo-op. Unfortunately, he was also lying through his teeth.

There is widespread agreement that the increase in Salmon numbers are due to improved oceanic conditions, a natural phenomenon that has no relation to Bush’s policies. Furthermore, the fish that are returning now bred four years ago, well before Bush became president. And Bush’s policies have been to keep fish-unfriendly dams in place, rather doing the minimum possible to make the dams “fish-friendly.” But the higher number of fish is also due to hatcheries, which avoid the river-blocking dams; wild fish numbers continue to be dangerously low.

An analyst for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission pointed out that “the policies of this administration will not prevent these fish from extinction. … They are basically doing nothing.” Rebecca Wodder, a conservationist for American Rivers, said that “far from contributing to healthy salmon populations, the administration’s policies actually threaten wild salmon and the local economies that depend on them.” Joe Lieberman chimed in, saying, “George Bush taking credit for increased salmon populations is like a sailor taking credit for the tides.” Glen Spain, speaking for the Pacific Coast Federation Fisherman’s Association, said, “I’m a Republican. I don’t want to criticize the administration, but they haven’t done anything for us.”

Bush, on a campaign tour through the northwest, was planning on presenting his case for forest-thinning at Camp Sherman in the Cascade Mountains. Critics claim the policy is a thinly-veiled excuse for increased logging, as it thins trees in places where fires are not really a threat, and that the logging companies would be taking out mature trees as much as it would be removing undergrowth, the real danger.

Ironically, Bush had to change venue. The forest he wanted to make his photo-op in front of was on fire.

As expected, the lawsuit brought by Fox News against Al Franken was shot down in flames by a U.S. district judge, who called the suit “wholly without merit, both factually and legally.” You didn’t have to be a legal expert to see that one coming, and one has to wonder was Fox News was smoking when it slapped that particular lawsuit together. “There are hard cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case,” the judge ruled. He also pointed out the irony of a media company which depends on the First Amendment trying to “undermine it.”

Fox News, which should have simply slunk away with its collective tail between its legs, instead dug themselves even deeper into the stupid hole in front of the judge: “To me, it’s quite ambiguous as to what the message is,” Fox’s lawyer said. “It’s a deadly serious cover … This is much too subtle to be considered a parody.”

Um, yeah. First of all, Al Franken is well-known for not being a satirist, right? Second, so many people would probably think that Fox News is going to call its own people “liars,” and use language like “lies and the lying liars who tell them.” Yeah, that’s way too subtle.

Franken was not ungrateful for the whole situation, obviously: “In addition to thanking my own lawyers, I’d like to thank Fox’s lawyers for filing one of the stupidest briefs I’ve ever seen in my life.”

In the meantime, Franken’s book has been given an increased first printing, and Franken has been invited to be the liberal voice on CNN’s Crossfire show next Monday and Tuesday (that’s Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:30 pm here in Japan). And don’t overlook the aptness of Franken being on CNN, considering its harsh rivalry with Fox News.

MoveOn.org has started a fundraiser to get money to pay for the hotel bills of the Texas Democrats holed up in New Mexico, and to start a media campaign to raise awareness of the relentless and single-minded effort by Washington and Texas Republicans to redistrict in favor of the GOP for the 2004 election. This is considered way out of line, as redistricting is supposed to take place at census time only, not every time one party takes control of a state legislature.

What’s so surprising about this? After only a week of fundraising, already $750,000 (at time of posting) of the $1 million goal has been raised. At this rate, they could almost fund a presidential candidate. When they get to a million bucks, they shouldn’t stop–advertise as far as the funding will take them. That’s the kind of issue-oriented funding we should have, not the $5,000-a-plate GOP fundraising or the major-corporate-backing “voice of the people” nonsense.

There is a series of articles on the Salon web site which introduce the book “Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth.” The columns, written by the “Big Lies” author Joe Conason, so far are excellent, and I would suggest you read them.

The full text of the articles are part of Salon’s “premium” content, but can be accessed by clicking on the “day pass” link. You’ll have to look at an ad or click on it, and then (if your cookies are turned on), you’ll be able to read any of their stuff for free–fairly painless, and in my opinion, less so that having to fill out a form every time like the Washington Post makes you do…

The articles can be found in the following links, for part one, part two, and part three. Amazon.com sells the book here, or you can get it at amazon.co.jp.

My own comments on a bit of the subject matter: there’s a lot to agree with here. What Conason touches on in part is the full-out cultural and linguistic assault by conservatives over the past many years. I have commented before on things like Newt Gingrich’s attack on language; there is a very real conservative drive to co-opt the American identity and to culturally outlaw liberalism. While the current calls for such action remain at the extreme pundit level, it is worrying. Ann Coulter making a case that liberals are traitors is, of course, laughable–but a lot of people read the tripe and take it in as their own. Whenever the opportunity arises, liberalism is under attack. When the “American Taliban” was caught, he was labeled as a liberal. Conservatives made big hay out of the rumor that some terror suspects were registered Democrats. Even many liberals buy into the assault, calling themselves “progressives” to avoid the “L-word,” as coined by Bush Sr.

Sometimes it is frustrating, and on more than one occasion, I have found myself wishing that liberals were just as good as conservatives at being jingoistic, condescending b*stards, caring little about fact or evidence, and being always ready to make nasty attacks on the opposition. Don’t you sometimes wish that Democrats could muster an all-out smear campaign making full use of Bush’s cocaine use and his dodging of the issue, his AWOL draft-dodging, his many criminal acts, just as then right-wingers went en masse against Clinton (and still do)?

It can be hard and painful to see the public officials you want in office take the higher road, while not only does the other side smear and stab, but when much of America accepts and believes it. It’s even harder when you see these sneering self-righteous hypocrites then claim that they are taking the high road and the Democrats are doing the smearing.

I found a moth on the stairway this evening, quite a pretty one. Being this close to the forest, we get tons of insects flying and crawling in, especially at night.

According to a new poll, three-quarters of Californians believe that the recall election is “headed in the wrong direction,” vividly illustrating Californians’ grasp for the bloody obvious. Just this visual alone is enough to make one wonder why more signatures were not needed for a candidate to get on the ballot.

Not that some of the more “serious” candidates should be taken too seriously. Arnold has come out with more “specifics” in a new press conference, in which he declares he will not cut education nor will he raise taxes, but he will make cuts–he just won’t say what he is going to cut. What substance.

On July 16th, on Market Street in San Francisco, a few hundred people swarmed to a busy downtown crosswalk, and commenced walking back and forth across it, spinning around and waving their arms in the air.

On July 24th, between 100 to 300 people gathered at a bookstore in Rome and started asking bewildered assistants for books with imaginary titles and authors.

On July 30th, in Germany, about 75 people spontaneously appeared in a public area, and at the direction of a man with a rainbow-colored umbrella, started performing gymnastics or spun around in circles with their arms spread.

On July 31st, about 200 young people converged on a bookstore at Harvard, all looking for a greeting card for someone named “Bill.” All at once, everyone burst into applause, and the promptly left.

On August 7th, a furniture store owner returned from a visit to the pub to find 200 people gathered outside his small store. He let them inside, and everyone praised his furniture. When ten minutes had passed, every single one of them abruptly left the store and went home.

The Internet and associated telecommunication technology are acting as a catalyst to new, interesting–and potentially scary–phenomena, called “flash mobs.” Currently, the trend is relatively harmless, on the scale of pranks, in fact. And who knows, this might very well just die down and disappear after a few more months if people get tired of it.

However, there is another side to this, as organization may stem from searchable web pages, attracting a few hundred people with the same radical views into creating flash mobs for less than humorous reasons. What would happen, for example, if such a crowd were to appear and commit a crime? With so many people traipsing through a busy public area, how could any reliable evidence be collected? How could any eyewitness report who exactly did what? It could be used for any number of purposes–one can imagine the more radical anti-abortion groups making use of the technique, an example of one of many social groups not afraid to violate the law and hurt people for their cause.

I am not one of those clueless people who would decry anything negative coming from Internet technology to be a reason why we must curb the technology. It is, however, an eventuality that will likely occur, and the reaction to it should be seriously considered.

New developments in California…

Schwarzenegger claims he is ready to debate, and interestingly includes Gray Davis in the proceedings. No doubt he wants an easy, unpopular punching bag on the other side of the political divide, as aside from Cruz Bustamante (less easy to knock over), all of the other likely debate candidates are Republicans also (McClintock, Simon and Ueberroth–and Simon has already opened fire on Arnold). If it were just to be the top five candidates, it would be four Republicans against one Democrat, obviously an advantage for Bustamante. I’ll bet that if Davis is either disqualified (for not being a candidate) or unwilling to come, Schwarzenegger’s people will demand that the standards be lowered to let in Arianna Huffington, Green Party candidate Peter Camejo and porn publisher Larry Flynt.

In the meantime, Republicans, who at first elated in the perception that (a) the Democrats were split and the GOP was represented by a single strong candidate, and (b) that Schwarzenegger was an actual Republican (being against the Clinton impeachment, pro-gay rights, pro gun-control and pro-choice, they are trying to figure out exactly where he is right-wing), are a bit less enthused now that the situation has reversed itself and it is the Republicans who are split.

Cruz Bustamante is accusing Gray Davis of interfering with his campaign, a charge that, at this point, might only help Bustamante, given Davis’s low standing in the polls.

Fox News (Motto: “We Can Call Ourselves Fair and Balanced Six Times out of Ten with a Straight Face”) is reporting that the Democrat-controlled California Assembly will try to ram through “Davis-friendly” legislation in case a Democrat is no longer in office after October. No news yet on whether the Republican minority will be heading to New Mexico.

The election is not even locked down yet, however, as two different challenges are being heard in federal courts. At least one is set to delay the elections for another six months in order to update polling places in six counties which have outdated equipment.

I almost expect the case to be taken to the Supreme Court, where they will declare a Republican the default winner in a 5-4 decision…

Hiromi and I really were looking forward to a hike today, but once again, we got rained out. We even got up before 5am, got all ready to go, cooking gyoza and other goodies to bring along–but the weather just never got any good, at least not that early. Despite constant predictions of an end to the rain, it just keeps on coming, making this the rainiest and coolest summer for Japan in recent memory.

Hiromi knows a really nice waterfall to picnic under in Oku-Tama. I guess we’ll have to wait until September to go (Hiromi has to go to Osaka to do research for her thesis). At least my new school schedule gets me Mondays off (as well as the weekends), so we’ll have ample opportunity then.

More and more, retired general Wesley Clark, former commander of NATO and Vietnam veteran, is making sounds like he is going to run for office. He just bashed Bush, saying, “We went into Iraq under false pretenses. There was, you call it deceptive advertising, you’d be taking him to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing machine the way we went into the war in Iraq.” Many have been trying to “draft” the general into service as a candidate.

He says that he’ll decide in the next two or three weeks. I don’t know too much about him, but the prospect of having a veteran military commander going up against Bush is highly appealing. Next to Clark, Bush’s flight-suit carrier-landing fake-soldier routine will look a lot more like Dukakis riding in a tank, as it should. After dodging the draft, going AWOL from the Guard and lying to invade Iraq, he should be lambasted, and Clark seems to have the authority to do it thoroughly and without it backfiring on him in anyway. The GOP, still fantasizing about Al Sharpton being the nominee, will have to sit up and take serious notice if he enters the race.

Another scenario is if Clark becomes a vice-presidential candidate. Can you picture Dean and Clark, from Vermont and Arkansas? That wouldn’t be too shabby, either.

The cause of the major blackout in the eastern United States is being tracked down to Ohio.

Ohio’s power company is First Energy, headed by Tony Alexander.

Tony Alexander is a “Bush Pioneer,” a major fundraiser for the Bush administration and a member of the Bush-Cheney Energy Transition team.

First Energy also has just lost a lawsuit filed by the Clinton Administration for violating the Clean Air Act.

Bush calls the blackout a “wake-up call” to modernize the energy grid. One citizen asked, “what were the California brownouts, a snooze button?” But Johnny-come-lately accusations aside, who will pay for the modernization, and who will take the blame and pay reparations for the damage? Bet it’s not the Bush fundraiser.

Is Ken Lay in jail yet? Nope. He’s enjoying his money quite nicely, thank you, President Bush.

We had unusually foggy weather up here on the heights tonight. A few 15-second time exposures to show off the view.

Tom Clancy used to write well, but somewhere along the way, he lost it. Everything up to Without Remorse was pretty good, but then it started going downhill pretty fast. Debt of Honor was interesting to read because it deals heavily with Japan, which I am very familiar with. Predictably, he got tons of stuff wrong, but surprisingly little right when it came to characterizing Japan and the Japanese. He even has the prime minister saying of Jack Ryan at one point, “He is a samurai.” Please.

Executive Orders continued the slide. Clancy should stick to military fiction, not political; he embarrasses himself in this book. Rainbow Six returned to John Clark, but unsuccessfully; the book starts with Clark and another commando on their way to England to start an anti-terrorist group–and their plane just happens to get hijacked. It gets worse from there. The Bear And The Dragon was just plain unreadable, with the battle scenes, which Clancy once wrote with aplomb, uninteresting and just plain confusing.

So now Clancy has come out with another new book, The Teeth of the Tiger (at least I assume he wrote it–there are so many books with his name big on the cover but really he just authorized other authors to write them). I’m not even going to read this one secondhand or even if it’s loaned to me, not unless I hear reviews that claim that Clancy has made a miraculous comeback or something. Doesn’t look like it.

A few updates on stories mentioned in the past week or so:

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore tells thousands of supporters that he believes taking down the ten commandments from the state judicial building would be “treason.” This makes it pretty clear that he regards the laws of God to outweigh the Constitution within the court system, as far as I’m concerned. This guy needs to be pulled off the bench and put behind a church pulpit.

Trying to squirm out of heavy criticism for trying to cut the pay of U.S. troops overseas, the Bush administration started backpedaling like mad to spin the travesty into something that looked less like the obscenity that it was. A spokesman said that the “Pentagon planned all along” to add new “incentives” to replace the imminent danger pay that they asked to have cut, and it would just happen to balance out to the exact same pay levels. Yeah, right.

On my gyoza recipe, something I forgot to add: Mozzarella cheese! I found that if you add maybe half a cup of shredded cheese to the mix, the resulting gyoza taste even better. An experiment to sprinkle pimenton on top of the gyoza as they cooked in the frying pan did not succeed, however–tasted a bit strange.

Al Franken’s Book, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” shot up 50 places to become the number one bestseller at Amazon for at least two days–even though it’s not out until September 22, more than a month from now. Today it ranks #3 in the Amazon bestseller list. Fox news has “sued itself in the foot” on this one; its frivolous lawsuit that has no chance of winning has instead made fools of them while giving Franken’s book which lambastes them the biggest boost in sales possible. What a hoot!

Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer the sole frontrunner in the California recall election. Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, the only official Democrat to file so far, is catching up fast. On August 13, Gallup has him at 22% vs. Schwarzenegger’s 42%, but a more recent Field Research poll has Bustamante at 25% with Schwarzenegger at 22%, with more of Schwarzenegger’s voters likely to switch their votes than Bustamante’s.

Um… well, maybe the rainy season isn’t quite over yet. After just a few days of sunshine, we got a typhoon, and then a few days after that a 5-day rainstorm that will last through Sunday. It is the middle of August, and yet we not only have rain but low temperatures as well. Temps were in the low 20s C (low 70’s F).

However, the rain is supposed to break Sunday night, and at least a week of sunny weather is supposed to come from Monday. Too late for many Japanese revelers–the O-Bon season was at its height last week, and most people had that time off. The slowly-recovering Japanese economy has taken a bit of a hit from this: sales of beer and other cold beverages, summer clothing, air conditioners and other hot-weather items have fallen. I myself just picked up a pair of short pants and two nice short-sleeve cotton shirts, all for less than $30, at a department store in Minami Osawa the other day–discounted due to poor sales.

The rice crops have been hit by the weather as well, but not as hard as in 1993, when Japan had to resort to the unbelievably radical measure of actually importing some rice. I remember that time; I was here. I remember especially that American and even Australian rice, though imported, were very hard to find in pure form. Any foreign rice that neared or matched the quality of Japanese rice was mixed together with long-grained Thai rice, thoroughly unpopular here, in an attempt to protect the impression Japanese people have that Japanese rice is the best in the world and cannot be equalled.

Anyway, we won’t see anything as drastic as rice imports, but all the same, the toll is being taken. The question is, what does this unusually cool summer bode for the Fall and Winter?