"Mooning Amtrak"

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a column by a former legislator, Lionel Van Deerlin. Now Van, as friends call him, is not one bit happy that BushCo has cut off funding for Amtrak in his budget--which nobody is paying attention to, distracted as they are by Schiavo, Jackson, et al--and he devoted his column to saying so.

Additionally, it seems that some years ago, a bunch of guys once decided to leave the bar they were in and moon Amtrak as it passed. It is now a yearly ritual...and Amtrak slows down so the passengers can enjoy those bared behinds as they pass. Mr Van Deerlin thinks it's only right that since BushCo et al has, by cutting off funding, mooned Amtrak in his budget, they should also come out, line up with the guys, and moon Amtrak and passengers in person on July 9th.

Sounds like a plan to me. If that wouldn't show Amtrak riders what BushCo et al thinks of them, nothing would. The rest of his column can be found at www.signonsandiego.com It's a good read, as always.

And so is Bob Herbert's column for tomorrow in the NY Times. Don't miss it.

J and I left the hotel patio about 10 minutes early today. I had to make a fast run, first to Chrome to pick up 35mm slides, then downtown to the SD Conv Ctr to drop them off before S left the place for Poway to meet with another photographer. So, okay, dropped them. Wanted to continue down Harbor Dr and hang a left on 5th Ave, so pulled into the left turn lane just in time to see the bars come down and hear the bells ringing cause here came the Santa Fe freight train. Hell with that. When the lights went green, I swung outta the turn lane and continued down Harbor Dr till I could hang a U-Turn and head parallel to the train tracks and turn right on Pacific Hwy and just cruise on back here.

In pouring rain. That started the second I'd done the U-turn...and continued all the way home. Supposed to be raining still in the morning, then 74 degrees and sunny on Sat and Sun. Hah. I'll believe it when I see it. Snow in the mountains today and tonight too. But down here on the coast, there are the most gorgeous flowers everywhere you look. Grass is green, trees are green, it's a sight to behold. And way out on the horizon over the Pacific lies one huge ship. Been there for three days now. Not sure if it's a cargo ship or an aircraft carrier. It's so far out its silhouette is faint, so can't tell. I check on it every morning on the way to breakfast.
Wrap.