MLB NETWORK LOOKED GOOD AT DEBUT

Dock Ellis RIP

DOCK ELLIS RIP: ELLIS, 63, DIED OF LIVER FAILURE SATURDAY, DEC. 20 AT A LOS ANGELES HOSPITAL.

HE AUTHORED ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SPORTING EVENTS IN SAN DIEGO HISTORY

This and more in http://www.92067.FREEPRESS.COM

Lysergic World San Francisco, April 16-19, 1993

Los Angeles, April 8, 1984- Former Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis says he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres.

Ellis, now co-ordinator of an anti drug program in Los Angeles, said he didn't know until six hours before his June 12, 1970 no hitter that he was going to pitch.

"I was in Los Angeles, and the team was playing in San Diego , but I didn't know it. I had taken LSD..... I thought it was an off-day, that's how come I had it in me. I took the LSD at noon. At 1pm, his girlfriend and trip partner looked at the paper and said, "Dock, you're pitching today!"

"That's when it was $9.50 to fly to San Diego. She got me

to the airport at 3:30. I got there at 4:30, and the game started at 6:05pm. It was a twi-night doubleheader.

I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria.

I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times.

The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder.

They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

The Pirates won the game, 2-0, although Ellis walked eight batters. It was the highpoint in the baseball career of one of the finer pitchers of his time, and arguably,one of the greatest achievements in the history of sports.

Scrooged. Scrooge needs a better PR agent.

This must be truly a season for giving. How else can we explain giving a presidential election to a guy who lost by more than half a million votes? I'm still bitter about 2000, even now.

I'm tempted to say "Only in America." Or "Only for Christmas." But that kind of thing happens from time to time in the Third World too. The way I figure it, George W. Bush had a heck of a PR agent.

Ebenezer Scrooge could have used one too, the poor, dear misunderstood gentleman. Scrooge's problem was bad publicity, the cynical media.

But I admire the poor sap, and not just because he is so darn cute.

You've heard all the stories. Scrooge was the guy who (allegedly) messed with good old Bob Cratchit's Christmas. And don't even start on Tiny Tim.

Bah, humbug.

People need to hear the good news about Scrooge.

Contrary to popular belief, Scrooge loved Christmas. Check out the classic Scrooge as portrayed by Alistair Sims in the 1950s "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge is transformed into the most fanatical pro-Christmas spirit ever

By the end of the movie ---- which some of us recall was based on a Charles Dickens story ---- Scrooge becomes the most effusive advocate Christmas this side of the indomitable Mr. Hanky on "South Park."

FOR MORE OF THIS CAUTIONARY TALE VISIT "VOICE OF RSF" AT HTTP://WWW.92067FREEPRESS.COM

"World's Oldest Living Dead Ringer"

(Read more in http://www.92067FREEPRESS.com)

That gruff yet recognizable voice. The trademark cigar. Those corny jokes that may, or may not, be funny but with that rat-a-tat-tat Vaudevillian delivery that never seems to fail. It might be. It could be. It is....

Al Mager?

Or is it George Burns?

For those who thought George Burns was a permanent fixture in the Las Vegas of the sky, think again.

Al Mager of Lake San Marcos is George Burns.

Well, a professional George Burns look-alike and former stand-in for the guy who used to say "Good Night Gracie" on radio and early TV, then played God in the movies before dying at age 100 in 1996.

"I liked George Burns but I wasn't crazy about him," said Mager, a former New Jersey cigarette paper worker and longtime Oceanside resident who retired to Lake San Marcos earlier this year. "I had a stroke in 1984 and said what am I going to do now. I saw an ad in the paper that you can be in commercials. The commercials director said you look like George Burns and sent me on a commercial job as his stand-in."

Thus was born Mager's new calling in life. He visited backstage with the venerable entertainer and started working gigs as a Burns look-alike and stand-in for Burns in Hollywood commercial work.

"I met him when he was entertaining in Atlantic City and as soon as I walked in the door people stormed me, asking for autographs," Mager said. "I said get me a seat, George is my dad."

Billing himself as the "World's Oldest Living Dead Ringer," Mager would drop in on Burns in Hollywood from time to time and shoot the shtick with him. Burns always was gracious and shared his thoughts including an apparent distaste for Frank Sinatra, Mager said.

Mager has slowed down a bit due to the effects of two strokes, but there must be something in those George Burns-type genes, for the 85-year-old San Marcos entertainer looks good and is interested in doing a little entertaining and attending celebrity look-alike conventions.

"It's a pleasure to be here," Burns, I mean Mager, says, repeating one of Burns' most classic lines. "At my age, it's a pleasure to be anywhere."

Ahh, material. In point of fact, Mager does look like George Burns. He sounds like him, too. And he's got that zest for life that made Burns such an American favorite for nearly a century.

Mager's routine is very good by the way. Plus he hands out million dollar bills with his likeness for effect. "Hey, you just made a million dollars," Mager tells people. OK, corny and then some, but it got my attention.

"I had a Gracie," Mager said, referring to Burns' better half, his wife and leading light in the Burns and Allen act, and shows. "She was a retired actress. "I always invited her husband to go with us when we performed but one time he didn't want to go. We got back one, two in the morning. No more Gracie after that."

These days Mager hangs with the other celebrity look-alikes at what appears to be an annual convention in Las Vegas. He has several giant scrapbooks filled with pictures of him and the mass quantities of Marilyn Monroes, Bill and Hillarys, popes, James Deans, and, of course, Elvises. Many, many Elvises.

"Just got back from the Imperial Hotel in Las Vegas," Mager said. "They had Bill, Monica, Joan Rivers, even Abe Lincoln. All of them were from different talent agencies. There was a Sammy Davis, Howard Stern, Mr. T, two Joan Rivers, Dave Letterman, Neil Diamond, Jim Carrey, two John Waynes, two Tom Cruises, a Seinfeld...."

The list goes on, too. "Hail hail the gang's all here," Mager sings. But I swear I can see and hear George Burns. Say goodnight, Al.

READ MORE IN HTTP://WWW.92067FREEPRESS.COM

Ike Turner homage noire

(Note: Ike Turner died Dec. 12, 2007 at his home in San Marcos, Ca.)

DESPERATELY SEEKING IKE FOR A GIG AT VENTURA

(For much more, visit http://www.92067FREEPRESS.COM)

I was working the day shift out of San Marcos when the phone rang. It was Adrienne. Yeah, Adrienne. Cool glass of water out of Ventura.

Adrienne. See. She got with Spence and they got themselves a little ole' radio show. KVTA-AM1520. Ventura's only drive-time talk news music and ... Well, you know the drill.

Adrienne and Spence wanted Ike. Yeah. Ike. Ike Turner. You know Ike. Father of rock and roll. Had a little thing with Tina. Big guy with a big bass.

They wanted Ike to spice up the deal. Shake, rattle and roll some cages. Spill the beans. Tell it like it is.

Now, me. I seen Ike. Seen him around town, don't you know. At the Panda Gardens. The Power Surge. Going down San Marcos Boulevard. East and West. Hither and Yon.

But you know what. Hadn't seen Ike for a dog's age.

That little old suburban house with a white picket fence and garden. Yeah that was Ike's pad. Ike had it all. See.

But what it was?

Ventura. San Marcos. Hollywood. It's all the same. Just a bunch of lonely people looking for a little music in their lives. Just a far-fetched fleck of dust flung across a big fat stack of condos where timeless sands wash along white-capped shores.

Yeah. But I ain't going to Del Mar today.

Adrienne wanted Ike. Now I wanted Ike, too.

I got in my little coupe d'coupe and dragged on down the strip. Lots of good stuff around here. Lake San Marcos. Quail. Water. Got me some bubble tea just for fun.

I headed up the hill and started seeking Ike.

Knock knock. Who's there. Nobody. No Ike. Nobody. Nobody home and by the looks of the empty driveway and locked-up fence nobody had been home for quite a while.

Hey, it's a hard knock life.

So, I surf.

The Net. The 'scape. Ike's got a site. A darn nice site. All the bells and whistles, don't you know.

Not much there to report however. Ike just turned 70. He got these pictures of a surprise party at Big Jim's Bar-B-Que in Encinitas. Groovy and far-out. He also got this long list of upcoming musical events. Sweet venues.

CANCELED.

All canceled, I tell you. Adrienne baby. We don't got much.

The next few days I go back again and again. Take down the notes. Literally. Ike's got these musical notes on his front door mat. Wish I knew what they were.

Went back to Ike's to jot down the notes again, see, when a pretty little poker face pokes through the blinds. It's Audrey. Yeah, Ike's OK, she says. Concert cancellations? We're in negotiations, she says. Yeah, that's the ticket. Negotiating.

I leave my card. Looking for the local angle, see. Adrienne and Spence they're looking, too. Got something special up in Ventura for him. A little drive-time radio spot they're itching to fill.

Long story short: I'm knocking off for the day. The phone rings. It's Audrey. Ike wants to talk. Give us a call.

I give Adrienne a call. We found Ike. Hey, call Audrey. She'll call Ike. And Ike'll call you. Then you call me.

That's it. My job's done.

Yo Adrienne: Give Ike my regards.

Me? I gotta make like a stocking.

And run.

(Note: IKE TURNER WEBSITES, FOLLOW THE LINK...)

(For much more, visit http://www.92067FREEPRESS.COM)

HTTP://WWW.92067FREEPRESS.COM IN GOOGLE NEWS SOON

I'VE BEEN POSTING SOMETIMES ON PNN BECAUSE THEY HAVE STRUCTURED AN EXCELLENT ONLINE SEARCH PRESENCE. PEOPLE CAN FIND THESE ARTICLES EASILY, WHICH IS USEFUL IN GETTING THE WORD OUT ON SOME PROJECTS AND WORK.

I BECAME AWARE OF THE SITE AS IT STARTED DUE TO THE GREAT SERVICES OF USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM ONLINE JOURNALISM REVIEW. USC WENT OUT OF THE ONLINE COMMUNITY BIZ, BUT THE KNGHT DIGITAL MEDIA CENTER RECENTLY TOOK BACK THE FUTURE IN THE FORM OF RE-BRANDING OJR. (HEY, KNIGHT, HOW COME YOU WON'T GIVE 92067 FREE PRES ANY MONEY; BUT I DIGRESS).

ANYWAY, I WON'T QUARREL WITH PNN AND WHAT HAPPENS HERE BECAUSE IT'S NOT MY PRIMARY FOCUS. MY THOUGHTS: I DO BELIEVE THE MATERIAL IS TOO SOFT TO BE OF MUCH INTEREST TO ME GENERALLY, BUT SINCE IT IS PRODUCER DRIVEN, PEOPLE PUT IN WHAT THEY PUT IN...I DO THINK SOME OUTREACH IN THE MORE SERIOUS ONLINE JOURNALISM COMMUNITY WOULD BE USEFUL FOR THIS SITE.

WITH THAT SAID, WE ARE CREATING A TEMPLATE FOR THE FUTURE OF PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY ONLINE JOURNALISM AT 92067 RANCHO SANTA FE FREE PRESS. THAT IS TO SAY, A CLOSER-TO-THE-GROUND APPROACH WITH HEAVY DOSES OF PERSONALIZED INPUT, BUT MANAGED PROFESSIONALLY.

NOT A CORPORATE SPONGE LOOKING TO CREATE PROFITS, BUT A COMMUNITY RESOURCE DONE BY, AND FOR, THE COMMUNITY, USING MONEY TO IMPROVE THE INFORMATIONAL CONTEXT AND STRUCTURE. THIS IS PUBLIC SERVICE Y'ALL. BUT WE DO NEED TO SURVIVE FINANCIALLY HOWEVER MODESTLY.

SO FAR, ONLINE COMMUNITY JOURNALISM HAS NOT BEEN SUPPORTED BY ADVERTISING. THE TOP SITES HAVE DONE MAYBE $1,800 A MONTH WITH VARIOUS SOURCES.

IN FACT, THE SITES THAT ARE GROWING AND SUCCEEDING HAVE DONE THIS EXCLUSIVELY WITH PRIVATE SPONSORSHIPS AND GRANTS. WE PLAN TO TRY TO SECURE $5,000 A MONTH IN SPONSORSHIPS, WHICH WILL ENSURE OUR PRESENCE AND ALLOW US TO BECOME SOMETHING SPECIAL.

THE LATEST MILESTONE WAS ACCEPTANCE INTO GOOGLE NEWS.

THIS IS WHAT I POSTED ON FACEBOOK. ANYBODY INTERESTED IN INTERACTING FEEL FREE TO ADD ME AND/OR THE 92067FREEPRESS GROUP AS A FACEBOOK FRIEND.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press...and now 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press. We got on Google News after a few months of "working" with them. Don't ask. This just in from Google:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Dan,

Thank you for your note. We've reviewed your site again and will be adding it to our index for Google News. Once your site has been processed, we encourage you to submit a Google News sitemap in order to optimize the indexing of your articles.

Please keep in mind that the inclusion process may take up to a few weeks, and you'll only be able to submit a News sitemap once this process is complete.

Regards,
The Google Team
----------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, http://www.92067FREEPRESS.com.

Soon, we'll have the site cleaner and start looking for sponsorships. Here's more about Google News from them....

Dan


About Google News
Google News:
A Novel Approach to News
Google News is a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide, groups similar stories together and displays them according to each reader's personalized interests.

Traditionally, news readers first pick a publication and then look for headlines that interest them. We do things a little differently, with the goal of offering our readers more personalized options and a wider variety of perspectives from which to choose. On Google News we offer links to several articles on every story, so you can first decide what subject interests you and then select which publishers’ accounts of each story you’d like to read. Click on the headline that interests you and you'll go directly to the site which published that story.

Our articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. We also rank based on certain characteristics of news content such as freshness, location, relevance and diversity. As a result, stories are sorted without regard to political viewpoint or ideology and you can choose from a wide variety of perspectives on any given story. We'll continue to improve Google News by adding sources, fine-tuning our technology and providing Google News to readers in even more regions.

Scenes from an Election

Voters came early to Ada W. Harris elementary School at Cardiff, Ca.

A line formed at the door before polls opened at 7 a.m. Within an hour, more people had voted than in the previous primary election. They did this in a heavy rain.

By 10 a.m., about 25 percent of the 844-voter precinct had vted. Combine that with a 25 percent mail-in ballot rate and effectivrly half the precinct had spoken.

Voting was consistent throughout the day with about 90 percent of eligible voters eventually participating. Elementary school students were taken around the voting machines and got "I voted" stickers.

Vietnam through eyes of Marine Corps Photographers

HTTP://www.92067FREEPRESS.com, THE RANCHO SANTA FE FREE PRESS, CO-FOUNDER, PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR AND OVERALL EMINENCE GRISE WALDO NILO VIETNAM PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW DEBUTS AT THE VALLEY CENTER LIBRARY. OPENING RECEPTION IS 1 TO 3 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 8 AT THE LIBRARY, 29200 COLE GRADE ROAD. SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISOR BILL HORN, A COMMAND LIEUTENANT IN VIETNAM, SPONSORED THE SHOW. SANDIEGO COUNTY LIBRARIES AND ESCONDIDO KIWANIS CLUB WERE PARTNERS. THE SHOW RUNS NOV. 3 THROUGH NOV. 30.

NILO CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHS AND CURATED THE EXHIBIT FEATURING 40 IMAGES TAKEN 40 YEARS AGO, 1967-1969, BY I CORPS, 3rd MARINE DIVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS. NILO WAS A COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHER IN THAT UNIT. IT FLUCTUATED BETWEEN 15 AND 33 PHOTOGRAPHERS THROUGHOUT THE CONFLICT, TAKING STATE-OF-THE-ART IMAGES WITH 35 MM CAMERAS AND 16 MM FILM. THE UNIT SAW ACTION ALONG FRONT LINES RANGING FROM PHO BAY TO QUAN TRI, DONG HA TO THE KEY BATTLE OF KHE SHANH. THEY ALSO SHOT DURING THE TET OFFENSIVE AT HUE' CITY.

SEVERAL OF THESE COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHERS LIVE IN NORTH COUNTY INCLUDING 1st LT. JOE HEARD, THE COMMANDING OFFICER FOR THE UNIT, WHO LIVES IN ESCONDIDO.

THE ICONIC IMAGES ARE FROM SIGNIFICANT ENGAGEMENTS AS WELL AS POIGNANT MOMENTS, MADE ALL THE MORE RELEVANT BY RECENT WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

"MANY PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF WHAT WENT ON IN VIETNAM," HEARD SAID. "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY."

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE LIBRARY AT (760) 749-4686 OR VISITWWW.THEVIETNAMPHOTOS.COM.

FOR A SNEAK PEAK AT MORE IMAGES CLICK ON THROUGH THE LINK IN TIME.

Rancho Santa Fe media: Visit http://www.92067freepress.com

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS JOURNALISM AWARD-WISE

A little -- make that a lot -- of truth-telling needs to be done this week in terms of local media and journalism awards.

Dan Weisman of 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press won the California Newspaper Publishers Association 2008 award for best local news coverage for work on the Witch Creek Fire. This is the TOP statewide journalism award. Nobody else around here won anything or has won anything like that.

Which brings us to this week's issue of The RSF Review, a headline, to wit:

"RSF Review wins slew of journalism awards, including national first place honor for last year’s fire coverage" 

Folks, they cited the "IFPA" award for their fire coverage. Journalistically inept, they didn't identify what "IFPA" means.

This is the "Independent Free Papers of America". That is an advocacy group for "shopper" and "green sheet" publications. These are advertising-purely with a dash of calendars and stuff. So, the Review is competing with fellow shopping magazines . Appropriate, but this is not an actual journalism group and journalism award.

This is the top of the "IFPA" membership list, the group the Review claimed as its "national" journalism award arbiter. 

Member Directory

Displaying Records 1 to 10 of 205

Ad Bargain

Address: Rt 453, PO Box 192, Smithmill, PA 16680

Ad Sack

Address: 3040 S. Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78468-8729

Ad-Delite

Address: 17 5th Ave., P.O. Box 548, Strum, WI 54770-054

Adventure Classifieds

Address: 622 S Minnesota Ave, Souix Falls , SD 57104

Consider the source when you consider how to spend your valuable online and viewership time. The Review lies about everything, especially journalism. We tell the truth. We won the actual award for fire coverage; they won a vanity award from a non-journalism  group.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In an article next to the faux awards announcement, "Professional audit shows..." Dex Allen, Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club member and vanity publisher,  quotes someone saying the Circulation Verification Council (Oh, the other "CVC" code, of course) found "spectacular" that RSF Review reached 99.3 percent of RSF homes. Allen added: "We're thankful our superior editorial content has been recognized for what it is." SNL VOICES: REALLY? REALLY?

TRUTH SQUAD: VERIFYING CIRCULATION IS A LEGAL REQUIREMENT, NOT A COMMENT ON EDITORIAL CONTENT. Yes, the Review reaches 99.3 percent of RSF mailboxes. And 99.2 percent of Reviews immediately are tossed in the trash. Have you been to the post office on a Saturday lately? That's what the Review reaches: nearby post office trash cans. Tired of having your mailboxes stuffed with junk mail? Contact the Review. They're responsible along with other junk mail advertisers.

As for fake commentary on number of people who read the paper vis-a-vis the circulation verification bureau. Hello. How do they verify that? THEY DON'T. Anybody who wastes their time mailing out newspapers to people who don't want them, who sends  junk mail newspapers to 99 percent of the Zip code is "recognized" by the auditors paid to audit circulation. Waste your money mailing junk to everybody and you, too, can be recognized by people you pay, too.

But "superior editorial content"? Check the post office trash can Saturday for the public's commentary on that lie. 

Bottom line: A newspaper that lies is not a newspaper. A newspaper that pretends to have quality, but is clueless fools only its own publisher and staff, not this community.

Another desperate, and dumb since it is easily verified, mis-claim trotted out to try to "verify", I mean represent, this rag as everything it isn't, an actual piece of journalism. Everybody in town is savvy to this except, apparently, a vanity publisher and his poorly conceived faux "product" that is an insult to the intelligent people of Rancho Santa Fe. Who even puts garbage like that on a front page and without a byline? Non-professionals play-acting as  journalists. Hacks. Poseurs. Disgrace to our community.

We tell the truth here. You see the difference on each page. As we grow, we will reach throughout the community and become the news group of choice for actual readers. This, followed by community sponsors who want to benefit the community and advertisers who want to benefit their businesses and services by working with a credible journalistic source well-loved,  appreciated,  and actually read and viewed, by you, our friends, neighbors and contributors.

WALKING THE STREETS OF EL CAJON or A FOND FAREWELL ADIEU SO

(Note: I stumbled upon this bit of San Diego County-acana the other day, which was my last column as editor of the East County Californian in El Cajon. No offense to El Cajon, but I've since said going to Rancho Santa Fe was going from the outhouse to the penthouse. Yet, El Cajon has its place. So, enjoy...Dan Weisman)

Walking the streets of El Cajon can be an interesting experience which is an understatement.

The business and cultural mix appear quite incongruous. A porno stores restaurants, rock - as in minerals, not roll - and music stores; thrift shops, discount grocers, a city-county courts complex and art center, art galleries. 

It’s beyond eclectic, almost unreal and weird. I haven’t checked lately, but this town has zoning laws, correct? What a mixed-up jumble.

Yet, I’ve found people have a genuine regard, respect, even love for El Cajon. Maybe, it’s a guilty pleasure. Maybe, the don’t know any better. I can appreciate their feelings though. I, too, appreciate something special here, something one might not see at a Del Mar, a Rancho Santa Fe, or even a North Park or a Point Loma.

But what?

Reality. That’s what I see here. The real world. Not the real world where moron kids nightly get drunk in a Jacuzzi by Mission Bay. Not the real world where American kids are sent to fight and die across the world by a president misstating claims of weapons of mass destruction, links with Al Quaeda and whatever else he thinks to say.

No. None of that garbage. El Cajon is real. It’s just confused and friendly, fast and slow, beautiful as an aging movie star enough to feel like home. Whether we come here to work, or live, or just plain pay, El Cajon feels like a time gone by. There’s something just plain comfortable about the place.

The rain came after 182 straight days of sunshine, knocked out the power at El Cajon Valley High School and my now-accursed hovel and left as quickly as a thief through night. It came and conquered, then cleansed the landscape..

So sweet. One actually could see forever, to the hills so often obscured and beyond into a light brown sunset. It felt good. Therefore energized and hopeful of some insight I left the stuffy confines of an office for the hustling bustling main street of El Cajon.

That particular string of street life sometimes cruised by classic cars with elderly designs gives way to a peculiar human parade. I’ve never seen so many homeless appearing people this side of San Francisco, the San Diego waterfront of downtown Los Angeles.

But there they go, the shopping cart people who make those daily rounds past the Starbucks and Prescott Promenade to resting places in close proximity to the library. Not that there is a lot of reading going on out there by the lawn, the church, county library and parking lots.

No disrespect intended here. They are what they are and that’s that. I’m not interested in judging them. I’m not really capable of helping them much. 

These are people with serious problems who require professional assistance. 

I hate to say it but in the interest of truth I must admit I’ve got my own problems.

However, this particular beautiful El Cajon day with the air clear and sanity intact, I thought I would stroll down Main Street and find out what was what.

First up near the home office, spotted an older guy with long, messy hair in a braid and a big blue backpack crammed with - shall we say - stuff. Homeless man? Perhaps except for one odd attachment. He had a rather nice digital camera and was snapping away shots.

As a former detective-for-pay, I knew I had my first subject. M. D. "Red" Bechtold of Flagstaff, Az. Who said his father was the first professional murder in Pacific Beach but declined to provide further details.

Red, it turned out, was far from homeless. He was an artist in fact who said he liked to take short trips around the west including several trips to San Diego and, yes, El Cajon. He described himself as a "raconteur" who liked to "tell interesting stories, but they are true stories."

We traded stories about trees hitting houses. He’s been there and anyone who has read this column knows I’ve been there, too. He regaled me with tales of karma, past lives and Paul McCartney playing for Wendy Walker Whitworth's birthday party.

That story was especially funny because yours truly broke it first when it happened in 2002. Red said he read about it last week in the Union Tribune. Guess they got scooped - by two years.

In an unusual twist of a story, Red said he had to leave. Usually, I’m the one leaving. That was fine because I had many a block to walk before I could rest. Many rivers to cross...

Back to the plan. I spoke with a lady about the weather. I traded hellos with a strange man, a couple and a guy with a dog. Did a little window-shopping. I don’t believe the cloth Elvis doll is for me.

I walked and walked and walked some more. Then, I stopped and turned around. El Cajon with its j' nais ce Croix, its it’s I don’t know, can’t quite say urban village charm. The homeless people and rich folk from the hills above town.

El Cajon. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But it’s real.

California sweeps state nurseries for labor code violations

(Photo above:  Ampol Orrungroj, owner of Ampol Nursery, was fined by state labor officials for not having pay records for his two employees during a statewide labor law violation sweep, but said he later produced the paperwork and hoped to have the fine rescinded. Dan Weisman)

SAN MARCOS -- Investigators with the California  Division of Labor Standards Enforcement were completing as many as 14 audits this week of 35 nurseries and agricultural operations found violating state labor laws during a recent enforcement sweep, officials said.

Twenty-four, two-person investigative teams conducted labor law violation sweeps throughout the state of 194 agricultural businesses, mainly nurseries, on Sept. 24-25. This resulted in 35 citations, 25 stop work notices and more than $269,000 in fines, said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the labor standards division.

"Some of the businesses will have audits done, going over the books if for some reason there is a complaint or question of the validity of the citation," Monterroza said. "They have 15 days to appeal."

Spot checks are made on a regular basis "directed at illegally operating businesses as part of the underground economy," said California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet in a written statement.

Inspectors went over employer books at businesses ranging from those with a handful of employees to hundreds, looking for compliance with five state labor statutes. 

Most citations were for failure to carry workman's compensation insurance, with 26 businesses assessed $320,000 in fines, followed by failure to keep records showing pay, six businesses with $41,250 in fines. One business was fined for minimum wage violations, one for overtime violations and four for violating child labor laws.

Some 32 San Diego County nurseries were inspected, a measure of the county's $1 billion nursery industry, tops in the nation in value of nursery crops. Eleven county operations were fined $78,034, officials said.

Most inspected San Diego County nurseries and operations were in the Fallbrook area with others along the Highway 78 corridor from Escondido to Oceanside. Other visits took place around Spring Valley and El Cajon.

Color Spot Nursery, a national powerhouse based at Fallbrook with 300 employees, initially was fined $100,000 for workman's compensation violations -- $1,000 each for 100 violations. The fine was rescinded this week when paperwork was produced showing the workman's compensation payments, Monterroza said.

Other major inspection efforts centered around Riverside County with 19 business inspections resulting in more than $100,000 in fines, mainly for workman's compensation issues.

Monterey County nurseries had 17 inspections and $27,000 in fines. Bay Area nurseries also had more than a dozen inspections with other farms visited by state officials along the North Coast as well as Tulare, Fresno and San Joaquin counties.

Businesses were chosen for a variety of reasons, officials said, sometimes at random but also including, but not limited to, complaints from competitors and customers.

"We just hope our growers are up to date on the laws, and complying, so they don't have any issues," said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

But sometimes, the sweep showed ambiguous results. For example, Ampol Nursery in Twin Oaks, about 35 miles north of downtown San Diego, was fined $20,500 for paying in cash with no records displayed. It's a mom-and-pop, 3.5-acre, wholesale flower nursery with two employees, said Ampol Orrungroj, a Thailand native who owns and operates the scenic nursery providing wholesale flowers to local commercial garden shops.

"We've been here 20 years and nobody ever mailed us anything about this," Orrungroj continued. " I told them this isn't fair. We just didn't have the paperwork ready, so my wife went down to show it to them today. I don't think they a did good job for the taxpayers."

However, state officials said they would continue such spot inspections in the future with the expectation some violators may be subject to criminal prosecution.

"These illegal operations have a negative impact on our state’s economy, do not provide the protection workers are legally afforded, and have an unfair advantage over competitors who do follow the law,” said Bradstreet, the labor commissioner.

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U.S.-China bilateral relations need work

The Olympics were great, but it's all about the cultural understanding if China and the United States are going to  build a successful working relationship, Dr. George said to a college audience today (Wednesday, Oct. 1).  Koo is special advisor to the Chinese Services Group at Deloitte & Touche and longtime U.S.-China bilateral trade consultant. 

"Given the recent financial turmoil on Wall Street and the increasing importance of China, holding close to $1 trillion of our treasury notes and government debt, it becomes increasingly relevant that we develop a measure of respect for someone that is likely to end up owning a bit of America in exchange for bailing us out of our financial excesses," Koo said. 

Born in Changting, Fujian province, in 1938, Koo grew up in Seattle, getting degrees from MIT, Stevens Institute and Santa Clara University. He has been an outspoken and popular speaker and writer aside from his economic work advising businesses on locating in China.

Koos appeared before an audience at Pitzer College, one of the Claremont Colleges, in Claremont, Ca. near Los Angelese. About 100 were expected at the Gold Student Center.

That appearance was an indication of the greater interest in getting serious about cultural understanding between the U.S. and China, said Stehanie Poseiro, director of the Center for Asian Pacific American Students (CAPAS). That group sponsored Koo's talk along with the Pomona Pacific Basin Institute.

"Our goal is to bring greater awareness of China to encourage more Asian-american visibility," Poseiro said.  "The Olympics had people talking about what Americans should know about China."

Not much has changed has far as lack of cultural understanding in the 30 years he has been involved in bilateral trade and communication, Koo said.

"There remains a lot about China that America does not understand and I continue to feel that the role of a cultural intermediary is as relevant as ever," Koo continued. "As the two arguably most powerful nations and economies in the world, a strong positive bilateral relationship is important not only to the peoples of the two countries but to a peaceful world."

While Koo has been highly critical of Western media coverage of China, he said his current focus was on helping people see the realities of China rather than an artificial picture. He cited examples of this ranging from the Olympics, China nuclear question and human rights to the environment, economics, foreign policy, Taiwan, Tibet  and even views of Chinese leadership.

"We Americans have trouble understanding the seeming contradiction of a democracy functioning within a single party rule," Koo said.

"But there is something to be said about the Chinese system of governing," Koo said. "Leaders are judged and promoted based on the merits of their past performance...These promotions came not because of unilateral decisions of a strong man but through consensus, compromise and horse trading between various factions."

For more of Koo's views visit http://georgekoo.blogspot.com/

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SPY VERSUS SPY: Mets v. Brewers; surely it will end badly

Weapons of Mass Economic Destruction

Here they go again. And by them I mean the Bush "Administration" and fellow travelers who put the rest of us in this horrible economic precipice due to their incompetence or evil, probably an unhealthy combnation of each.

As with the weapons of mass destruction lie, we're getting the bail out the mortgage industry, Wall Street, anyone who has MILLIONS of dollars and screw everybody else lie. The bigger the lie, the more difficult to deny apparently.

Why? Because of the same tired old "Trickle Down" economics lie so disproven over the years. No, giving a few wealthy people money or bailing out their convulated and in many cases intentionally obscure, financial instruments and predatory lending practices does not HELP YOU OR ME. 

While the economic crisis is quite actual, it happened for a variety of complex reason as well as simpler ones such as the Bush Administration doing away with as much "useless regulation", their quote not mine, as possible. Thanks for nothing. 

The entire Bush (faux) presence has been similar to the volunteer firefighter who sets the blaze so he can come in and look like a hero. Also, Bush etc. has been big  on taking a terrible situation, 911 and Katrina, and making them much, much worse. But they always seem to make a lot of money in the process.

It's sad. We've been over this ground before, discussing the inherent evil of stealing an election -- 2000 -- and again although less spectacularly -- 2004, Swiftboat etc. -- to no end except our mutual destruction.

This sudden economic collapse and re-packaging happened almost literally overnight. Then, Bush etc. (although not the actual president; on vacation) met over the weekend with congressional leaders behind closed doors.

And they came out with this $800 billion or $3 trillion or whatever it is gift basket for wealthy corporations whose officials also lived high off YOUR hog for years with bonuses, etc. and much wealth created through predatory gouging of innocent consumers, or creation of fake financial instruments intended to mix and match money to their needs.

The outcry has been loud, but what will come of it? The stuff has hit the fan within weeks of the big election. Does your vote matter? Well, it hasn't so far, at least since 1996. Maybe the 12th year is the charm.

There's a very lingering question just off curtain in the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern section. In promoting his new book a few weeks ago, Bob Woodward kept talking about an "October Surprise".

Woodward hooked the surprise to a new "super-weapon" developed by intelligence services, the one where they target and hit someone with mind-blowing accuracy. He said the troop surge had little to do with any perceived security gains in Iraq. It was more a combination of paying off the Sunnis -- the awakening guys -- and the new super-weapon.

So now, Woodward threw out his belief in an October Surprise, which will shake things up, a political enigma although on reality shows such as "Big Brother" contestants like to shake up the house just for the hell of it and better ratings.

October surprise? How about GETTING BIN LADEN? That would qualify. But even then, to what end would capturing Bin Laden work?

Besides, with all that has gone down, and my reading of Bush, his distaste for McCain coupled with the usual narcissistic deal of wanting to be idolized, which means the others must fail since he can't succeed on his own merits, he might want to save that surprise for a rainy day. Like the arms-for-hostages deal by Reagan etc., maybe go out on a (relatively) high note.

Bin Laden. Hostages. 911. It's all related, according to Bush etc. logic. And those pesky weapons of mass destruction. AH-HA, we've found them at last. To paraphrase Pogo, we have found our weapons of economic mass destruction and they are us.

I got some apples. Bring some oranges. See you on the street. (And later, behind the dumpster for some diving...)

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