Here's an editorial on the US and Iraq from Arab News, Saudi Arabia's First English Daily, Editorial: Iraq and US. The media is Saudi controlled, but it's interesting that the writer says that perhaps the best way to keep Saddam Hussein under control is to have UN weapons inspectors permanently stationed in Iraq. My question is, who is going to fund this solution? Is it the USA, since we fund most of the United Nations expenses anyway? I mean it sounds like a half decent idea, and an alternative to war, but it's logistics of this solution that bothers me.

For the wine readers, I tried Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon, on sale at Trader Joe's for $1.99, and it was very good for the price. An article in the SF Chron said people were calling Charles Shaw wine, "Chuck for a Buck". The wine is young and it wasn't as smooth as a more expensive wine, but for a $1.99 it's totally drinkable and a great picnic or every day dinner wine. If I didn't know it cost a $1.99, I'd have guess the cost of the wine to be between $5-15.

Check this link out, Future of Public Interest in the Digital Age at Stake as FCC Proceeds with Plans to End Longstanding Safeguards. The FCC, which is coincidentially chaired by Colin Powell's son, is reviewing the FCC rules which allow how many media stations a company may own in a given market. I think the current number limit is eight, but the buzz on the conspiracy theory radio programs is that the FCC will lift the limits thereby creating media monopolies.

Don't we already have media monopolies on the radio with a company like Clear Channel, which owns a ton of radio stations? If a company like Clear Channel is allowed to own all the sources of media in a market, doesn't that they mean they will control all forms of communication media like radio and TV. This is not good. Of course, the internet is there as a source of alternative information, but I don't like that one company may one day be able to own and control every radio and TV station in a market. Talk about being able to "control the message".

I'm watching American Idol for the first time, and it's a very funny show. I'm watching and listening to these people, and I'm thinking I'm not such a bad singer. I took a semester of singing lessons from a woman who graduated from Julliard, so at least I had some training. Some of those people, I mean, it's amazing, Simon is right; they're really bad.

Just watching the judges' faces during the bad singing is hilarious. It's like watching a torture show, and what's a trip is some of those people don't know they're out of tune, can't carry a tune, or just can't sing period. No wonder it's a hit. It's a riot. A sad riot, but a riot nonetheless.

I've been measuring myself again, and although I seem to be on weight plateau, I've lost an inch off my waist and an inch off my booty. I've had two weightlifting sessions this month, so maybe that's the difference because I've been the same weight for three weeks now.

I'm not freaking out just yet, because I can't complain about an inch loss off my hips and my tummy, but I just wish the scale would move. Maybe my body is shifting again, and my body needs to get caught up. Maybe the weightlifting I've done has added more muscles, and muscles weigh more and that explains the weight plateau. I don't know.

I wonder if I'll lose my hips or are they permanent now. I never used to have them. Hips do make certain types of clothing fit better, like jeans and skirts. With my hips, I can finally wear women's pants. At my thinnest in high school, I could only wear a men's size 29 jeans. They were the only jeans that fit my waist and my hips.

I once had a seamstress friend design a dress for me. When she was draping fabric around my body, she got frustrated and kept saying over and over again that I had no hips to hold the fabric up. But that was when I was younger. Now I have hips galore, and although I'm not very fond of these lumps on the sides of my body, I do like how they make clothes shopping easier.

Not much to say today. I feel all talked out somehow. I did love Bush's line in the news today. "This business about, you know, more time -- you know, how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming? As I said, this looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I'm not interested in watching it. " He sounded irritated in the sound bite, didn't he? I don't blame him though; 11 years is a long time.

Check the out the full text of Bush's comments to reporters, Remarks by the President After Meeting with Economists.

So I'm deciding whether to drop out of my Saturday morning City College of San Francisco yoga class, because the yoga teacher spent about 15 minutes telling people to go to the anti-war rally. I'm like, HELLO! I'm paying you to teach me yoga, not to hear about your politics. I was irritated on Saturday, and my irritation has been building to just downright anger.

I just experienced what the conservatives are saying what's wrong with public education; public school teachers trying to politic in a non-political class. And obviously this woman knows nothing about yoga, because if she did, she would know that her integrity is so off and she's committing an act of bad karma. Her job is to teach yoga, not politics and she's not, and she knows it; that's classic bad karma. She doing something wrong and she knows it. And this woman is going to teach me yoga and its philosophy? PLEASE!!! She knows nothing of the subject if she's politicing in an exercise class.

This is the first time I've ever come across this in a class at CCSF. It's frightening to me. I want to send her an email, and harangue her about it, but what's the sense. She won't get it, and I know she doesn't get what yoga and its philosophy is truly about. I don't need someone teaching me yoga and its philosophy, who doesn't understand the basic laws of karma.

The woman then went on telling the people in class to write to Gray Davis, and tell him that we don't like the public education budget cuts. And I'm like why? So I can have a freak like you teach class an exercise class, and spend most of it telling us your political views. When we do go to war with Iraq, and I belive it's a fait accompli at this point, I just know this yoga exercise teacher is just going to spend more class time spouting off her political opinions. Do I really want to deal with this for a whole semester every Saturday morning?

I take classes at CCSF, because they're cheap, I get to meet a variety of people, and the teachers I've had have been very good. Now granted, the country is an extraordinary set of circumstances with the upcoming war with Iraq, but to have this yoga teacher, who's said she's studied yoga and its philosophy all her life, commit seriously bad karma on the first day of class just doesn't sit well with me. I feel bad too. I'm a great believer in public education, but if this is what public education is turning into, then I'm not going to waste my time. I can afford to take private yoga classes. I won't get the variety of people I'd meet in a public education class, but I think the teacher will teach yoga postures, and not spend the time informing me of their political opinion.

My only consolation in this whole thing is, very few people in the class took the anti-war flyers she was handing out, and everyone had that bored looked in their eyes which seemed to say "shut up already and teach us yogic breathing", which of course she didn't, because she ended class early so she could go the rally. Talk about instant karma, but I doubt she got that too.

So the Raiders won, and they're playing their old coach who bailed to go to Tampa Bay, after Steve Mariucci, the ex 49er coach, waffled on whether to take the job. It's the kind of drama even Hollywood could invent. Real life is sometimes way more interesting than fiction.

And Al Davis, who people call "the godfather", I just found out was the first NFL owner to break the colour barrier and hire african american players. Which reminds me that tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, and I don't have the holiday off. Bad huh?

My pastor read a sermon at church today that Dr. Martin Luther King delivered in 1956, and it was very good. Dr. King had pretended he found a long lost letter from Paul to American Christians. The man definitely had a way with words as was evidenced by this early sermon. The themes Dr. King brought up in 1956 are so timeless too, as the country faces whether affirmative action and other programs to promote racial diversity have any merit at the college level.

My Dr. Martin Luther King connection. During my college time, Dr. King's daughter enrolled at my school, but left after a semester to go to Howard University in Atlanta. I never saw her, but everyone said she was very nice.

Although I'm a 49er fan, I'm jumping on the bandwagon to cheer on the Raiders because they're a Bay Area team. It's one of the perks of living in an area with two football teams. There's a good chance if one of them loses, the other team may win. GO RAIDERS!

The geriactric Raiders team is definitely redefining for professional football the age limit and longevity of players who stay injury free and take care of themselves. I read Bill Callahan even had the players train differently, so they don't get too tired because of their age. His strategy has paid off, as the Raiders look strong and don't fade in the fourth quarter as many teams expect them to do.

I love the fact that Bill Callahan has never held a head coaching job before, and now finds himself as a rookie coach in his first superbowl. I wonder if he allowed himself to have this dream. And what a dream. There are head coaches who have never taken teams to the superbowl, and Callahan goes in his first year.

My prediction: the Oakland Raiders will win Superbowl 37 by a touchdown, and it will be a close, well fought game.

And now we can look forward to why we really watch the Superbowl; the commercials.

I caught part of the North/South Senior Football Bowl yesterday in between errands. During the half time, I watched the senior football players take their shirts off and get weighed and measured before a room full of pro football scouts and coaches. The announcers said that sometimes players don't give their correct weight and height, so this process checks them.

It was very weird watching the whole process. I was first reminded of an animal auction, and then a slave auction that I've seen depicted in movies. But if these guys make it to NFL, they will get paid bucket loads of money. Some guy from the Detroit Lions said, "Some of these players are taller than I thought they were, and thicker too." Wow. The coaches and scouts really pay attention to a player's physical attributes. I had no idea.

Uh oh. Poor Philadelpia Eagles. If the Raiders win, it will be the Chuckie Bowl.

Why I drink alkaline water. Aside from all the health benefits, it does make filtered water taste very good. Honestly.

Bad diet, either a present one or one in the past, can cause acid wastes to be stored in the body. A meat and potato diet, for example, can cause the body to become more acidic. When acid wastes enter our bloodstream, the blood, in order to maintain that narrow pH range, will store them somewhere else. Acid salts stored in the body, over the decades, will overburden the system. A way has to be found to rid the body of wastes. Some examples of solidified acidic wastes are cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid kidney stone, urates, sulfates, and phosphates.

The body uses the blood system to dispose of wastes; these are removed in liquid form, and are often deposited in the lungs and kidneys. If there are too many wastes to handle, they are deposited at various organ systems, like the heart, the pancreas, the liver, the colon, and other locations. Sometimes these wastes are deposited on the walls of arteries, and over the years can spread throughout the body.

The breakdown of this disposal process, especially of acid wastes, is what we call the aging process. In order to slow down and reverse this process, one must begin removing acid waste from the body.

The best way we have found to do this is to drink alkaline water. This water, having a pH of between 9 and 11, will first neutralize harmful stored acid wastes, and if you consume it every day, will gently remove them from your body. Yet, since the water is ionized, it will not leach out valuable alkaline minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, or sodium.

Japanese doctors have treated their patients for over four decades with alkaline water. They believe that the immune system loses its power to throw off disease when the body becomes too acidic. They advocate drinking alkaline water, eating alkaline foods.

In case you were wondering ... (Note: this stuff tastes really quite yucky, but boy is it good for my energy level)

Dr. Richard Schulze’s Superfood
100% Organic Vitamin & Mineral Food Concentrate

Dr. Schulze formulated this perfectly balanced blend of SUPERFOODS to supply you with natural food source vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential trace nutrients. These are Nature's nutrients, not man-made synthetic vitamins. This is the finest whole food and herb vitamin and mineral product available anywhere. All the ingredients are the richest WHOLE FOOD & HERBS on the planet. ALL THE INGREDIENTS ARE ORGANICALLY GROWN.

Two rounded tablespoons of SuperFood will give you 2-5 times the vitamins you need for the entire day, or more! Many of these sources are single-celled plants, which means they almost digest by themselves and assimilate into your bloodstream in minutes!

Contains: Spirulina Blue-Green Algae, Chlorella Algae, Alfalfa grass, Barley grass, Wheat grass, Purple Dulse Seaweed, Beet root, Spinach leaf, Rose hips, Orange and Lemon peels and non-active Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nutritional Yeast.

Spirulina Blue Green Algae
Spirulina is the most concentrated, nutritious food on this planet. It is the highest natural source of complete protein (75%). We use the only organically grown spirulina in the world, from Hawaii. The high amount of sunshine there makes this spirulina higher in Beta Carotene than any other. It is also a rich source of B-vitamins, especially B-12. Grown using water pumped from 2000 feet deep in the ocean, this spirulina is also one of the richest sources of minerals. One of the oldest types of algae, it has a soft cell wall for easy digestion and assimilation.

Chlorella
Chlorella is second only to Spirulina in nutritional content. Another of the algaes, it is an excellent source of nutrition and complements Spirulina well. The cell wall had been cracked to make the nutrients more available and increase digestibility.

Alfalfa, Barley and Wheat Grasses
These are the Vitamin/Mineral herbs. They are mildly cleansing and the greatest sources of nutrition of any grasses. Grain grasses are more potent than the grains themselves, offering us a rich array of vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll.

Purple Dulse Seaweed
Seaweeds are the riches source of assimilable minerals on the planet. They contain all the minerals and trace minerals that are found in the oceans and the earth's crust. We chose Purple Scandinavian Dulse because it has the highest mineral concentration and also tastes bland. Many seaweeds taste fishy and are offensive to vegetarians.

Beet Root and Spinach Leaf
Beets and Spinach are some of the richest, most assimilable sources of organic iron. Beets, being a root vegetable and growing underground, change inorganic raw elements into plant minerals, that are usable by us. Spinach is a rich source of calcium, iron and vitamin K. Both of these plants are famous for their blood building ability.

Rose Hips, Orange and Lemon Peels
Revered as the best sources of vitamin C, these fruits are also a balanced C-complex source. They contain bioflavinoids, rutin, vespertine, calcium and all the trace elements that are known to be necessary to assimilate vitamin C. The citrus peels are also one of the highest sources of pectin which has been proven to remove heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.) from the body, even remove radioactive contamination like strontium 90.

NON-Active Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nutritional Yeast
This yeast is grown on beets and pure molasses. It is the second highest source of complete protein in nature (50%), and the richest source of B Vitamins. It is also a rich source of iron and many other minerals. The yeast we chose is heated high enough to absolutely destroy any yeast activity, but not high enough to lessen the B Vitamin content. It is totally NON active and safe for patients with candida albicans or on yeast free diets.

Three examples of my daily food totals from my excel food journal worksheet. They are very typical of what I eat on a weekly basis. Be warned. I'm in the middle of a serious chocolate craving this month.

Food for 1/6/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 300 calories
1 apple – 90 calories
5 ak-mak crackers – 116 calories

Snacks
1 slice pugliese bread – 40 calories
1 cup trader joes cheese crunchies – 140 calories

Dinner
french fries – 120 calories
1 veggie corn dog – 150 calories
1 tbs ketchup – 40 calories
1 see’s candy chocolate balls – 40 calories
1 freshly baked choco chip cookie – 110 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of german/italian mineral water with a slice of lemon - 0 calories
Total – 1391 calories
****************************
Food for 1/9/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 280 calories
1 pear – 100 calories
3 wasa sesame crackers – 150 calories

Dinner
Salad: 1/3 lb of baby organic greens, 1/3 avocado, handful of sunflower seeds, 4 radishes, 2 small organic baby carrots, handful of homemade croutons, and homemade olive oil (1 tbs) & vinegar dressing – 325 calories
2 see’s candy chocolate balls – 80 calories
2 freshly baked choco chip cookies – 220 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of diet pepsi - 0 calories
Total - 1400 calories
******************************
Food for 1/15/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 180 calories
1 orange – 90 calories
4 wasa sesame crackers – 200 calories

Dinner
1 grilled soy cheese sandwich with 1 tbs butter – 220 calories
2 see’s candy chocolate balls – 80 calories
2 freshly baked choco chip cookes – 220 calories

snacks
1/2 cup trader joes cheese crunchies – 70 calories
1/8 c almonds – 85 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of diet pepsi - 0 calories
Total – 1390 calories

A friend is visiting my home island Kauai. I'm very jealous, but I'm also reminiscing about my beach bunny roots, when the five biggest concerns in my youth were:

1) how to not get tan lines - tan lines are evil, they still are!
2) how to get every single hair off my body - body hair is very bad for tanning - you get polkadotted skin.
3) the best time to tan for maximum sun exposure without burning.
4) boys, boys, boys.
5) what bikini to wear under my clothes to school, just in case I got invited to the beach.

Finally, a good decision is made by a San Francisco appeals court, State appellate court overturns ruling in Haygood case.

Talk about a good case for the abuse of affirmative action policies. The woman made a mess out of San Francisco elections and ran up the election budget, and then said she was fired because of race. I don't think so. Can you spell "incompetence"?

Check this wild article from CNN.com about trading on Saddam's futures, A contract on Saddam.

Here's the trading screen on Saddam's future, Tradesports.com.

A great article from The Mercury News on the anti-war protests tomorrow, Anti-war movement taking shape.

On A.N.S.W.E.R., the sponsors of the protests, "Many of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s lead organizers have close ties to the International Action Center, formed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and to the Workers World Party (WWP), a socialist sect whose politics often are criticized as too left, too doctrinaire, even for Bay Area liberals. Some of the WWP's more controversial positions are its support for the governments of Iraq and North Korea; its backing of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic; its claims that reports of Serbian atrocities against Muslims and Croats were overblown; and its defense as recently as 2000 of the Chinese government's deadly crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989."

On the A.N.S.W.E.R.'s anti-israeli stance, "One of the biggest divides is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While more moderate anti-war groups like the ``Win Without War'' coalition have pointedly skirted the contentious issue so as not to alienate mainstream Americans, the World Workers Party, the International Action Center and now A.N.S.W.E.R. are staunchly pro-Palestinian.

``"In the anti-war movement it's some kind of taboo thing to bring up Palestinians,'' said Richard Becker, a member of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s steering committee and a longtime member of the WWP. "But if the United States is arming Israel, that's a war. Some view Israel as a shining example of democracy in the Middle East, and they are worried that liberals will withdraw support from the anti-war movement if we criticize Israel. But we think it's possible to have big, mass actions and support the Palestinian cause at the same time."``

I listened to the Ronn Owens radio show this morning and he asked the following question, regading tomorrows anti-war protest in downtown San Francisco:

If war is not the asnwer in how to deal with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, then what is?

Owens said he hasn't seen the supporters of the anti-war protest realistically answer this question, and I haven't either. I do not want my country to engage in any war, and I certainly wasn't a supporter of the first gulf war, but until I see someone, anyone answer the question of how we're supposed to deal with Iraq with anything other than war, than I will not support the anti-war protests.

Protesting is good. Protesting is great for our country, but I wish the people who organize these protests would provide alternative answers and courses of action to whatever they're protesting. It is irresponsible and immature to protest without an alternative realistic course of action. The world of 2003, the new millenium is much too complicated to simply say no, to say I don't like what you're doing, and then not offer a better and realistic way to do things.

What's ironic to me, is the anti-war protestors aren't even talking about the situation with North Korea, which I think is much more explosive than the Iraq situation. Is it okay for the US to go to war with North Korea, but not okay to war with Iraq? North Korea has nuclear plants, they backed out of the nuclear proliferation treaty, and they've threatened the US with war? But are their anti-war protests going on about war with North Korea? NO! What gives with that?

It seems logical, doesn't it, that if you are anti-war, you should be against war with any country and not just some countries.

Christopher Hitchens has a new piece for the UK Mirror on Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors, Grim Truth About to Emerge in Iraq. Hitchens is my favorite grouchy Brittish intellectual. I love it when he and Chris Matthews go at it on Hard Ball.

All the astrologists are saying that we've been going through a Mercury retrograde since the beginning of the year. A Mercury retrograde brings back people and issues from your past into your present life. So of course this week, I get contacted by two of my ex's.

1. The ex-husband sends me a newspaper clipping of himself interviewed in his local paper. The ex-hubbie, who I know will one day end up in Fortune Magazine, Time or some other glossly weekly rag, as a successful internet entrepreneur. He's about to hire his first employee for his internet shop. The ex-hubbymeister was such a slacker boy, that it's surprising he's the head of his own successful business. He even told me his business plan, and I was shocked by how well thought out it was.

I loved what he told the reporter about himself: "graduated from an elite jesuit high school". He went to Bellarmine in San Jose. But, he forgot to mention that he went to UC Santa Barbara, or UC Isla Vista as he called it, for a year, then transferred up to Cal Berkeley. At Cal Berkeley, he was accepted into the School of Music, he's got an incredible voice and perfect pitch to boot, and was double majoring in music and philosophy, before dropping out a semester before he graduated.

2. The lying and cheating ex-boyfriend from 1995 called me to invite me out to some event he was emceeing, and wouldn't it great if we could see each other. Here's a guy who told me on the corner of Divisadero and Geary one night that "he thought I was the one, but he couldn't give up his bachelor ways", and I'm like, "whatever".

I am so mean to him, and he keeps calling. He called me two years after we broke up and said to me, "I've been thinking about you every day since we broke up", and I replied, "Really? I haven't thought about you at all". Isn't that so mean? But still, the freak of nature calls. Like I'm going to forget the reason we broke up in the first place was because he couldn't keep his johnson in line. He cheated on me, and we were just dating. Memo to ex-boyfriend; if you can't be faithful while dating, you're probably not going to be faithful in a longer term relationship and definitely not in marriage. I think he calls because he's a Taurus, he's stubborn and he won't let go, and I'm like "whatever".