"radical Islam": the new red menace

from today's New York Times, in an article talking about Bush's strategy in the wake of the Libby indictment:

"Over time, aides and advisers said, the hope is that Mr. Bush will be able to re-establish his image as a strong leader by showing people that he has plans to address issues like high energy costs, illegal immigration and the risk of an influenza pandemic. At the same time, they said, he will try to do a better job of explaining why prevailing in Iraq is essential to defending the nation from the broader threat of radical Islam."

It's that last sentence that caught my eye. I won't even mention that, originally, we were told that we needed to invade Iraq because Saddam might have had WMDs. In the sentence above, couldn't you swap "radical Islam" with "communism" and arrive at the rationalization for the Korean War and Vietnam War? Yikes.

Using a bike for much of my getting around...

...means I'm often on the bike path along the south shore of the San Diego River, a manmade inlet of the Pacific that passes right by Ocean Beach. I see some interesting things on this bike path - most notably my fellow bikers. The other day, I rode by an old guy who had steered his bike to the side of the path to whistle and wave at someone on the other side of the river. As I got closer I realized he was also gazing through a pair of handlebar-mounted binoculars at the someone: a large bird perched on a lightpost on the opposite shore. I couldn't tell if the bird was returning his greeting.

Another interesting sight first caught my eye about six months ago, on my first trip down the bike path after starting up Wavelength Clothing. Someone had set up a ladder and a few dried-out palm fronds in what looked to me like a pelican, just lifting off from the water into flight.

I've passed the sculpture probably 100 times since, and it's still standing, though some days it looks a little worse for wear. I'm curious to see how long it's going to hold up.

While visiting San Francisco last week...

...I brought the Wavelength Clothing booth to a Sunday afternoon festival in the city's Excelsior neighborhood. People seemed to like my shirts, and I sold about 15 of them, but the best part of day was sitting back and absorbing the Excelsior's flavor.

From my spot near the stage where the festival's musical acts performed, I watched an incredible range of people pass in front of me. In general, it was a diverse blend of whites, blacks, hispanics, and asians. More specifically, I saw a group of Spanish nuns in gray and white habits, an elderly woman walking effortlessly on 10-foot high stilts, an Aztec warrior dancing troop, the Balboa High School Marching Band, and a terrific Filipino rapper named Kiwi, from a duo called Native Guns.

Overall, it was a magical day in one of those personality-laden neighborhoods that make San Francisco such an amazing town. I was even located near the free cotton candy stand, so there were lots of very happy kids all over the place. And, as you can see in the picture at right, the lady in the booth next to me had the cutest little girl I've ever seen.

Interesting words from The Sun...

...a truly wonderful magazine with short stories, poems, and reader submissions as well as a usually insightful centerpiece interview with a big mind from some niche of the progressive movement. In a recent issue, they interviewed a remarkable Colombian exile; one of his remarks reminded me of a dilemma I've felt rising in me since I started Wavelength Clothing:

"I'm tired of hating Bush. I have realized there's no point in simply acting in opposition to others. I have to live my own desires instead of just opposing theirs. This is what we all have to do: find our own style of living and working and making love, and do it, I hope, with some beauty and grace."
-Hector Aristizabal in the October 2005 issue of The Sun

Choice quotes from Thoreau's Walden...

...almost always cheer me up, particularly when I'm in a work-related funk. In my corporate days I picked up the nerdy but rewarding habit of typing good quotes from things I was reading into Microsoft Word files so I could easily find the quotes later. My Thoreau file is filled with dozens of amazing passages, so to help me decide which to post in this blog entry, I focused on some of the best of his quick-hitters. When they're looking for words to live by, a lot of people seem to reach for the Bible, but to me, Thoreau's stuff just makes so much more sense...

on money:
"Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul."

on success:
"...a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."

on economic equality:
"The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another."

on smarts:
"Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit."

on fashion:
"The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveler’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same."

on change:
"Things do not change; we change."

on life:
"This is the only way [to live], we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one center."

on the future's potential:
"Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning-star."