Santa Clarita Fire

My drive up to V-town took much longer than expected today... 3 hours or so longer. This was on account of the blazing fire happening in North LA county (N. of Magic Mountain) at the town of Santa Clarita. I could see the smoke billows from miles, and had a really close (and slow on account of the traffic) look at the fire and how well the firefighters worked to put it out.

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land

A friend sent me this documentary, whose opinion of the American news media coverage of the whole situation is critical. He said, "People are people; and people killing people to this egregious degree on this sort of conspicuous scale should bother us immensely, regardless of our perspectives on the matter." And I couldn't agree more... The more I read about the history and current situation in the middle east, the more I feel ashamed of, embarrassed by, and enraged at my country, its leaders, and its foreign policies. It is austounding to me that the number one opposition to peace in this conflict is indeed America herself. America funds, condones, advises, and aggressively defends the continued aggression at the expence of peace and the lives and liberties of Israel and her neighbors. For what? If America is trying to obtain military advantage in the Middle East and the control of Oil-related politics, it seems the solution is not to appeal to zionists back home, but to ally with the arab world (and yes that means the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian world too). Notwithstanding, the situation now is of humanitarian interest, not political. An interesting perspective by Richard Cohen from the Washington Post in his Op-ed "Hunder Down with History" The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself. About the documentary: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

The lion awakes

The lion awakes
Originally uploaded by kanaan2.

Chris is in Kenya seeing lions, but back at home in San Diego there are ferocious lions too.

ITS A MALE MERGANSER!!!!!

Stanford Sierra Camp... the return of the Thundercats

Its been 2 years and yet very little has changed. Camp is still the absolute best way to spend your time and not your money over the summer. The new staff kicked ass, the old friends were just as friendly as before, and the view never ceased to take my breath away. Best of all, my tenure was extended from a single week to two, the first of which I was working on the dock, and the second teaching tennis to guests who most likely know more about the game that I. Four out of the 5 thundercats came back to work and it was great to re-live those thundercat days on the dock, complete with the Windy Shuffle, Thunderstruck ski slots, The LONG Rope, 5-man pyramids, sun tans & zinc oxide, Morn Du Ski, Epic Kneeboarding sessions, Wakeboard Flips, BEFFA, Throwin' buckets, and kicking back T-bombs. This one's for us... Where'd dat Gria get? I do have to appologize to the new dock for repeating jokes of old and referencing B-hyde. This year's dock is a fantastic bunch... Annie, Megan, Joe, Becca, Robbie, & Trainer--y'all rock. So maybe I'll be able to visit in a few weeks for week 8, or maybe I'll get camp to visit me in Yosemite... somehow we'll make it happen. Thanks to all for a fantastic 2 weeks!

so the pictures here are just thumbnails, for the original pics go here and check them out.