Tuesday

Here we go this morning - kids off to school, me to work with the pooch. Sonnet in Milano meeting with fashionistos in anticipation of her exhibition on Italian fashion, circa 2014.

Somehow it's mid-May giving us a 5:19AM sunrise and 15-hour day (January: eight-hours).  Not that the extra daylight matters much in April or for the early May bank-holiday w/e : record rainfalls, dude, and blustery winds.  Despite the cold and clammy, spring a tough time to self-motivate.  I watch my tadpoles, now pollywogs, grow up and set free - free! - in the pond; my tomatoes look for the summer. Other projects on the hop: War & Peace (never-ending), photography (must find more time), this blog and the usual stuff : family, work, kids. The occasional walk with Sonnet keeping it all real.

"The time for fear has come for those who betrayed this homeland. We are coming."
--Nikos Michaloliakos, neo-Nazi leader of Greece's Golden Dawn party, which won 21 seats in parliament  (8.5% of the vote) on May 6

My Garden

Rusty digs himself into a hole, which is about where we are in Europe, following this week's elections in the UK, France and Greece. Germany will be 2013.

Me: "France has a new President."
Madeleine: "Who's that?"
Me: "Francois Hollande.  He wants to take money from the rich and give it the poor."
Madeleine: "That's nice."
Me: "Do you think it's a good thing?"
Madeleine: "I guess so."
Me: "What if the rich all leave France? Is that good?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "What if they no longer want to work since their taxes are so high?"
Madeleine:
Me: "So it's not such a simple question."
Madeleine: "Yeah. I give it 50 50."
Me:  "50 50 ?"
Madeleine: "Some of it is good, some is bad."
Me: "Seems about right to me."

In Preparation

Marc On Taxes

Marc, pictured, I have known for many years, to my benefit, via Eric (who slyly forwards my last blog to him, which is like a red-flag before the bull). He is one smart Brooklyn Jew who went to Cornell and the Harvard Kennedy School and has spent his life in public service (while working for Nancy Pelosi: "“For me it comes down to basic issues of social justice and working for impoverished folks"). Now Marc is an analyst for the AFL-CIO. We were together at Eric's wedding. 

Here is Marc's take on the US tax system:

"... Overall, Americans pay taxes in relative proportion to their income and it is a myth that the bottom 50% pay nothing in federal taxes. 

For example, the federal tax code is only slightly progressive and total American taxes even less so. The richest one percent of Americans pay 21.6% of the total taxes in America, but they also take in 21% of the total income in America. That's barely progressive and it is because , when you add up all the different federal, state and local taxes that Americans pay, you find that America's overall tax system is just barely progressive. On the bottom end, the share of total taxes paid by the poorest fifth of Americans (2.1%) is only slightly less than this group’s share of total income (3.4%). Remember also that the total effective tax rate for the richest 1% (29%) is only about four percentage points higher than the total effective tax rate for the middle fifth of taxpayers (25.2%). So the richest rich are paying an effective rate in the same ballpark as the middle class.

Tax Policy Center data show that only about 17% of households did not pay any federal income tax or payroll tax in 2009, despite the high unemployment and temporary tax cuts that marked that year. In 2007, a more typical year, the figure was 14%. This percentage would be even lower if it reflected other federal taxes that households pay, including excise taxes on gasoline and other items.

As for your comment that "Obama, afterall, transferred $1 T of wealth following Bush and the '08 crises" - what are you talking about?  The late 2010 two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, ensured that the wealthiest 2% would continue to reap disproportionate tax benefits from temporarily reduced marginal income tax rates, reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends, and other tax loopholes."

Perspective

Rusty checks out the drop from my office.

I walk from meeting to meeting in the rain, no umbrella, taking note of a fellow, or at least his legs since he is wearing shorts, in a Porsche Carerra. He shifts gears at the lights and I curse my fate. But, once inside George on Mount Street, the fantasy returns : I am ushered to my table, chair pulled and napkin placed in lap. I order an orange juice and look around : it is a confident chatty crowd in suit and tie or blouse and skirt. I recognise a few faces. Were this evening, they would hold Martinis or Old Fashions but, since breakfast, it is double espressos.

According to the IRS, the top-1% of US tax payers ($343K income or higher) paid 37% of Federal taxes in 2009 while the bottoms 50% about zero. Regardless of what one thinks about the 1%-ers, the Republicans have done a number on the country: how else does one explain Mitt Romney polling even with the President, as he does now ? Obama, afterall, transferred $1T of wealth following Bush and the '08 crisis. Go figure.


Me: "Anything you want to say for this blog?"
Eitan: "No."
Me: "Nothing at all?"
Eitan makes farting noises with his mouth while watching football.
Me: "Fair enough."

Eric's Cat Dingo

Upper Arlington, Ohio

It takes a village, right ?

Me: "Got any secrets?"
Madeleine: "No."
Me: "Nothing at all?"
Madeleine: "Well, I have one, but I am not telling you."
Me: "Come on, you have to tell me now."
Madeleine: "OK." [Madeleine shares her secret with me]
Me: "Wow, that is a good one."
Madeleine: "Yep, but it's a secret, Ok Dad?"
Me: "Between us. So do you fancy any one?"
Madeleine: "No, I am just a kid still."
Me: "That doesn't mean you can't have a special someone."
Madeleine: "And I have the extra problem that the boys all think that I am a boy."
Me: "Good point. Why do you think it might be nice to have a boyfriend any way?"
Madeleine: "Texting. Skype, kissing and wine."
Me: "Sounds about right."
Madeleine: "Lying in bed all day with nothing to do."
Me: "Let's not get ahead of ourself kid."

"We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company."
--UK panel

Jacmal

Me (left), Katie and Reed Brody, in Jacmel, Haiti. The photo taken ( as Katie now reports) following the end of the military regime, and the US invasion. Katie, who had been at the UN covering Haiti, and Reed were working together to help the victims of coup crimes build cases against the alleged perpetrators, in 1996. Katie was the trench-digger on the team, mostly doing interviews and taking notes and depositions, setting up meetings, bugging the judges. Reed was one of the international human rights lawyers who flew in to help guide the work (he was already well known for doing this kind of thing in other countries in Latin America). Reed is currently at Human Rights Watch.

Jacmal one of the most beautiful cities I know : pastel walls, surrounded by water and banana plantations; exotic and friendly people. The buildings are historic and date from the early nineteenth century; the town has been tentatively accepted as a World Heritage site and UNESCO reports that the town sustained damage in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Madeleine Reports On Snakes

Madeleine has snakes on her mind.
Me: "Did you write your snake report?"
Madeleine: "It's five pages long! Want to see it Dad? Can I read it to you?"
Me: "Of course, honey - what did you write about?"
Madeleine: "Poisonous snakes, wild snakes, venomous snakes, constrictor snakes. I also wrote about shedding and a snake catching its prey."
Me: "How do they do that?"
Madeleine: "They wait in one place for a long time. About two or three days. And when their prey comes, for instance a humming bird, the snake lunges out and catches it. But, faster snakes, chase their prey. They have two long fangs for poison and holding the prey in place."
Me: "Wow. Will the cage have a lock?"
Madeleine: "Hopefully."
Me: "And how often do you feed a snake?"
Madeleine: "Well, because we're getting a smaller snake, one pinkie-mouse, which is a mouse with no fur, once a week."
Me:
Madeleine:  "You can get the frozen mice from the pet store."
Me: "Good to know."
Madeleine: "They are much cheaper than maggots."
Sonnet:
Me: "Well, at least we won't have maggots in the house."
Sonnet: "I should hope not."


"Some snakes also eat prey that is already dead. For example, animals that have been run over on roads."
--Madeleine, "Snakes"

Dad's note: the snake around Madeleine's neck a gift from Auntie Katie and comes from Nairobi, Africa, where Katie was in December.  It is made of bottle caps.

Torch

Sunday, rain. The Shakespeares and I  up at 0630h where they swim while I read 'War And Peace" (five months, 400 pages to go).  Despite the foul weather, the hose-pipe ban remains in place: April only the fourth month in two years with 'above average' rainfall, according to the Met. London no longer wet and dreary, as Americans like to think, but every now and then we still get warnings of 'Gale force winds" and "Amber Warning Rainfall!" and even "chance of flooding!!" which keeps the weather gals busy. A country that takes its climate seriously.

At school, Eitan and Madeleine hold the Olympic Torch that turns out to be one of 8,000 replicas which, Eitan tells me, "are carried by celebrities or famous people that run in a relay across England beginning at Land's End and ending in London."  He adds: "It starts in Greece, where it goes around for seven days, before being handed off to the hosting country." (the Olympics website notes that the official torch will "come within ten miles of 95% of the UK population" which is impressive until one considers that standing on any London street-corner puts you within 15% of the British population ). The kids homework : make a torch, which both do with gusto, Madeleine's pictured.

Me: "What does the Olympics Torch symbolise?"
Madeleine: "What do you mean?"
Me: "What does it stand for?"
Madeleine: "Sports, running. Getting on."
Eitan: "A flame?"
Me: "That's not what I'm after. What do you think of when you see the torch?"
Madeleine: "It represents .. 
Me: "Excellent."
Madeleine: "It represents courage and hard work. And winning."
Me: "Bravo."

Madeleine: "Guess what Alex is feeding his snake?"
Me: "What?"
Madeleine: "A rat!"
Me: "A live rat?"
Madeleine: "Of course not Dad, that would be illegal."
Me: "What if we get a snake and feed it a live animal?"
Madeleine: "It's against the rules."
Me: "Nobody will know. And what's the difference? The call of the wild ...  ."
Madeleine: "The difference is I would never let it happen."
Me: "We can go to the pet store and get a couple hamsters.. . "
Madeleine: "You are so cruel."
Me: "Hamsters are pretty clever, though. The snake might not catch them."
Madeleine: "Okay, Dad. Why do snakes smell with their tongue?"
Me: "Well, that is where their sensors are, and they are super sensitive. For us, it is the nose and tongue. Like, when you pinch your nose, it becomes difficult to taste your food."
Madeleine: "So if you put a big slab of meat under a snake's tongue, what would he smell?"
Me: "Probably a big slab of meat."
Madeleine: "Thought so."

Dad's note: In the UK, it is considered inhumane to feed live animals to pets, and therefore against the law.

Caught Inside

Summer '93. Dan, pictured, went on to write about the California surfing culture in his second book : "Caught Inside: A Surfer's Year on the California Coast", which I love.

We became friends from High School, sharing the same circle, and swimming : he played water polo to my distance freestyle. Since Dan went to Cornell, we left adolescence behind at the Oakland airport, flying together to JFK, where we spent a week in Bronxville, soon after joined by Ivor and John.  Yes, we danced at the Palladium and other big '80s discotheques until 5AM , drinking Long Island Iced Teas ( though we were minors) during that exciting pre-Freshman year moment, now held in time only by us and my memories.

From Ithaca, Dan returned to the West Coast and climbed El Capitan in Yosemite (and wrote is first book, the acclaimed "Lighting Out") then UC Santa Cruz for his PhD (when my photo taken).  While a graduate student, he structured his days around pre-dawn surfing and writing; some of my happiest moments were joining him (this during my two-year sabbatical which came to an abrupt end when I chose business school over a different life).  Danny continues to write and surf from his home in Bernal Heights, SF, marrying a Manhattanite who writes about, amongst other things, him and his family - they were recently interviewed by Matt Lauer live on the Today Program. 

Last I saw Dan was in London several years ago when he profiled chef Fergus Henderson  for Outdoor Magazine.

Me: "You know, Madeleine, one day you will love coffee."

Madeleine: "Not everyone does."
Me: "True, but most people enjoy it. Especially in the morning."
Madeleine: "And coming from parents who need coffee to survive I probably will."


Dad's note: Here is the jimmy on "Caught Inside" :
"A wondrous, uproarious, and surprisingly informative account of a year spend surfing, Caught Inside marks the arrival of an exuberant new voice of the outdoors. This remarkable narrative of Daniel Duane’s life on the water is enhanced by good-humored explanations of the physics of wave dynamics, the intricate art of surfboard design, and lyrical, sharp-eyed descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Pacific wilderness. From Captain Cook and Mark Twain to Robinson Jeffers and Jack London, from portraits of famous (and infamous) surfers to an analysis of Gidget’s perverse significance, Duane expertly uncovers the myths and symbols bound up in one of our most vibrant and recognizably American subjects. "
-- Farrar, Straus and Giroux 

Helmut Newton

I am with Astorg and so, rather than lunch, Stéphane and I sneak across the 8e to the Grand Palais to see the Helmut Newton exhibition on my idea. Pictured, my favourite photo and, funnily enough, the lady fully clothed. Otherwise his photographs are pervy. Beautiful, too, of course. Perhaps his most famous portraits are 23 full scale nudes shot in the 1970s and 1980s - the women defiant, toned (bushes trimmed) and stare directly at the viewer daring us .. to do what ? Look at their vaginas in front of all these people? Newton would have been delighted.

Having never seen an image of Newton , I considered him to be, well, like his subjects, so it was a surprise to see his belly hanging over his Bermuda shorts, thick glasses, unusual hat.  He looks like a dirty old man and he certainly had fun with his models, which included Cindy Crawford, Natassia Kinski and Kristine DeBell, who he shot for PLayboy. Many of his photographs have a sado-masochistic theme and they are all sexually charged. Even his Polaroids, which he took in abundance.  Less well known are his portraits of Margaret Thatcher, Jean Marie Le Pen and Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Hopkins . ..Mick Jaeger.  All on display.

Newton gets a nod in The Eyes of Laura Mars, which sees a photographer taking erotic photographs of women (who have their eyeballs gouged out).

Fermentation Vessel

The Stag Brewery, Mortlake, (pictured, steel fermentation vessels - I am smaller than the red brick wall) , now owned by Anhauser Busch, which produces 2 million hectolitres of Bud a year , exported to 37 countries excluding the USA, where a different entity owns the brand and distribution rights. One hectolitre = 100 litres or 3,350,084 kegs , of course.

In 2009 AB decided to close the brewery, making available to developers ten-acres of prime London riverside property . The local council agreed to condos before consulting the community but then the people mobilised : Emergency town-hall meetings. Pep rallies.  Bake sales. Next came the expensive consultant planners. Finally, in 2011, after stirring the pot, AB announced that they would remain in Mortlake until 2014 “given the very strong performance of Budweiser in the UK." When a recession hits, the Brits drink beer.

While investigating the capacity of a steel fermentation vessel, I stumble upon Zhongde Equipment Co., ltd, whose website helpfully informs me : "Our large and medium sized brewery equipments are turnkey projects , which solve your troubles . They are made from the material stainless steel or carbon steel , with the output capacity from 10,000 tons per year to 200,000 tons per year . They can satisfy the drinking demand of a big city or a small province or state ."

Music And The Dork

Eitan drags his piano into my bedroom. At his own initiative , he started lessons in January and why not ? My parents forced piano lessons on me from maybe age-8 and, sadly, I lost interest by 11 or so. Of course now I would give about anything to play an instrument but that is next year's project.

Madeleine, for her part, passes Grade 1 following a pins-and-nails exam at the Richmond Music Trust.  The results arrive yesterday and we are delighted.

Madeleine: "Don't be such a dork, Dad."
Me: "Nice one kid."
Madeleine: "Well, it is true."
Me: "And how, may I ask, would you describe a 'dork'?"
Madeleine: "Someone who wears big glasses.  And pulls up his trousers like this (Madeleine yanks her waistline above her belly button).  And a dork likes science."
Me: "Any dorks in your class?"
Madeleine: "Alex P. He's a dork."
Me: "Good to know."

Four Sisters

This remarkable photo of Silver (far left in blue) and her sisters (by age order) Missy , Martine and Robin taken (Sonnet thinks) while Silver at Vassar in the 1950s.

Mini Marathon update : Eitan is 21st of 245 runners in the Under-13-Boys category in yesterday's race. He is first (of eight) in his age-group for Richmond-Upon-Thames, and is also the youngest runner.  The boy's official time (from a chip) for the three-mile course is 18:24 (the winner, Paul Burgess from Croydon, crosses the tape 16:38).

Eitan rewards himself with the couch, American candy bars (thank you , Eric and Simona) and two football matches : ManU v Everton (4-4) and Manchester City v Wolves (2-0).  The Red Devils Premiere League pole position precarious - three  points over Man City. The arch-rivals face each other 30 April, which will likely determine the winner of the Barclays Premiere League.

Sarkozy's second term under threat from socialist Francoises Hollande who nips him in the first of two general elections in France. Hollande would wish to levy a 75% tax on the high-earners, and break the conservative reign of 17 years. France's yuf and the global markets watching.. .

Mini Marathon

Eitan competes the "Virgin Mini London Marathon" , which covers the last three miles of the London Marathon including the finish gate on the Pall Mall , 200 meters from Buckingham Palace.  It is wonderfully organised with Marshalls , volunteers and bobbies everywhere : this is a warm up for the summer games.

The "Mini" split by sex and age-group 11-12, 13-14 and 15 to 16.  Each London borough puts up a team of eight per category; Eitan qualified this winter and the youngest from Richmond-Upon-Thames.  He is pretty nervous, too, as some of the boys are, well, p-r-ett-y serious.  Mo Farah a previous winner.  The boys elbow and bruise each other (Eitan tells me) for pole position. My photo taken around mile-2 and the lad suffers. His unofficial time is18:40.

(Dad's note: Mary Keitany wins today's marathon in 2:18:45 and Wilson Kipsang in 2:04.44 or 4:45 miling. Both Kenyans)

Simona

Eric and Simona stop over for the night on their way back to Cambridge (Boston) following a visit to Romania (we, including Simona who is from Romania, struggle to name the five bordering countries which, NB, are Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Moldova. Extra credit for knowing the Black Sea).  Bucharest sounds fascinating : bursting with the new yet filled with Communist era architecture and apartment blocks. Eric shows us photos of crumbling ancient buildings which keep their charm despite graffiti and garbage.

The last we are together the wedding.  Simona appears the perfect stepmom, conveying affection and interest in Ben, Jonah and Isabel while maintaining considered distance : she inherited a couple teenagers, after all.  It is impossible for me to imagine Eric and them without her.

Eric , for his part, is working with Bill, who heads Arizona's maths department, to establish mathematics standards , by grades, across the country, using the Internets. The Bill Gates Foundation is funding the project.  He also dug up his concrete driveway with a long bar.

Me: "What did you think of Eric and Simona."
Madeleine: "They are a good couple."
Me: "Why so?"
Madeleine: "No shouting when you get directions wrong. Agreeing on stuff. They like each other."
Eitan: "Eric did not seem like a maths professor at Harvard."
Me: "Oh?"
Eitan: "Because of the goofing around he did."

America And Guns

In July, 2010, Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana , signed into law a measure allowing people to bring guns into places of worship. 

There are over 300 million firearms in the United States, harming or killing 100,000 Americans a year, according the the US Bureau of Statistics. The NRA, which was not political from inception in 1871, became so in 1975 when they created a lobbying arm headed by Harlon Carter, a convicted murderer who denied it then came clean with a shrug : "I have nothing to hide" he told the NYT who broke the story. That was June 1981 or shortly after John Hinckley Jr shot President Reagan.

Between 1968 and 2012, the idea that owning and carrying a gun is both a fundamental American freedom and act an act of citizenship (the New Yorker reports) gained wide acceptance and, along with it, the principal that this right is absolute and cannot be compromised; gun-control legislation was diluted, defeated, overturned or allowed to expire; the right to carry a concealed handgun became nearly ubiquitous; Stand Your Ground legislation passed in half the states; and , in 2008, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that the District's 1975 Firearms Control Regulations Act was unconstitutional.

The majority of Americans A) do not own a firearm; and B) would support most laws regulating their use and  overwhelmingly support common-sense measures like preventing criminals from having them.  The NRA, run by David Keene, whose son is serving 10-years for, yes, shooting someone in a road-rage, is the most divisive, corrupting force in America.

Exhibit #1:  Oikos University, a Christian college in Oakland, where One Goh killed seven students with a .45-calibre semiautomatic pistol on 3 April, 2012. It did not make the front-page of The Times nor does it appear any where near the top of a Google search. Try it. 

"One of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word 'fraud', on the American public by the special-interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

--Former US Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on the post-1970s interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

330,000,000 Tonnes Of Water

London's changing skyline is forever a fascination. My photo, from a mobile, faces east through the Thames Gateway (the area centred around the tidal part of the river), the Thames Estuary and , eventually, the North Sea.

Rusty Kills A Squirrel

Rusty survives the dog kennel. His behaviour, which was never particularly good, is now worse.  He is not a stupid dog, either - he just refuses to pay attention.  Whenever a squirrel or deer hits his radar - bam! - he is gone. The neighbourhood cats no safer and I wonder : what would happen if he caught one of these things ?

And, just like that, I have an answer. Sonnet calls my mobile, whispering, "Rusty got a squirrel and it's a blood bath". Kamila, whose birthday is today, "is freaking out."   I am unable to drop everything and go home to fix the mess.  And anyway : good doggie.