Old photos: 20s through 40s

     I continued scanning old photos—and documents—today. I came across papers left by my grandfather (Opa) in an old briefcase, including official yearly "registration" forms that recorded days worked and taxes paid (something like that). Opa seemed to keep all of them. The earliest one I could find was the one above from 1924. He would have been seventeen years old.

     This photo seems to date from the late 20s. That's my Grandmother (Luise) playing the guitar at right. Oma and Opa married in 1930. They lived in Böblingen (the name is a reference to Babylon), which is near Stuttgart.

     I haven't figured out what this one's about. These small town Germans seemed to know how to have a good time.
     My guess is that the photo dates from the late 20s or early 30s. My dad thinks that two of the women look familiar—perhaps they are Opa's sisters or cousins. Most of the people who could have answered the question are gone now.

     My mother lived in the furthest eastern part of Germany—an area that was swallowed up by Poland after the war (Pommern). Here, she is visiting her father's grave in about 1943 or 1944 (she would have been 10 or 11).

     When the Russians advanced a year or two later, soldiers insisted that civilians, especially women, flee to the west. My mother and her stepmother managed to get on a flat car of a train. Most of the trains were bombed or strafed. Mom was among the lucky ones who survived.

     In this photo, my father appears to be about 13 or 14, and so the year would have been about 1945 or 1946.

      My dad and his pals did lots of camping. They lived not far from the Black Forest.

     Arko, the Wonder Dog. My father was given the puppy Arko as a gift from a neighbor. When he saw the pup, Opa was not pleased. Nevertheless, he insisted on joining the local Schutzhund Club (a working dog club that typically involves German Shepherds) and taking Arko to it. Arko was soon the "star" athlete among the dogs. He did everything well.
     By all accounts, he was a great friend too.

Mom hasn't been back to her home town since 1945.

(It's in Poland now.)

Mom ended up near Hamburg. Eventually, she left for Canada in 1951 (she was 17). She met my dad on the boat, an old Liberty Ship that nearly broke in half during the Atlantic crossing. (All passengers were rescued by yet another old Liberty Ship.)

Phil Greer was incompetent, says Chriss Street

     As you know, Orange County is slowly morphing into a less severely Neanderthalic habitat. The glaciers are receding, and the Cro-Magnons have the run of most of the county’s forests and beaches.
     Oddly, during this unstoppable transmogrification, the Old Guard—friends and associates of good ol’ Tom Fuentes (Mike Schroeder chief among them)—have managed to keep its crew of unscrupulous and cronyistic Cave People in key positions. DA Rackauckas is the best example. Former OC Sheriff Mike Carona was another (until he was convicted of one of the many crimes he committed). Lots of lower-profile pols are part of the network. They give each other prizes. They trade jobs. They smoke stogies.
     Until recently, an important member of the team was OC Treasurer Chriss Street, a corrupt bastard whose dark past cast a pall on his office even before he started knocking out walls and buying expensive furniture.
     Eventually, the lawsuit against him was decided, and, overnight, he became our latest big Orange crook. Plus he was broke—he owed people a zillion bucks—and Republicans hate a pauper.
     It was oblivion time.
     He dealt with the situation with an odd combination of realism and denial: he took himself out of the running for reelection, but he also commenced issuing opinions and policy statements, as if he were a seriously respected guy, which he definitely ain’t.
     Well, here’s the latest. According to the OC Reg (Chriss Street sues bankrupt trust for $40 million), Street is suing his adversaries for $40 million and appealing the court decision against him. As the Reg explains,

     Street was trustee of the End of the Road Trust, the … successor to the bankrupt Fruehauf Trailer Corp., from 1998 until creditors forced him out in mid 2005.
     He is suing the trust, Los Angeles money manager Dan Harrow, who replaced him as trustee, the trust’s current and former law firms and the hedge funds that supervised the trust.
     Street alleges that the two hedge funds … tried to embezzle money from the trust while he was trustee. When they failed, Street wrote, they “simply pushed him out and brought in someone ethically detached and morally flexible.”

     Sounds zany.
     Then there’s the appeal. In his filing, he “argues that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard M. Neiter wrongly applied Delaware trust law.”
     But here’s the best part:

The appeal also alleges that his lawyer in the two-day trial, Phillip Greer, was incompetent.

     The Reg lays out the amazing story Street offers regarding the conspiracy against him. Check it out.
     Back to Greer.
     Incompetent, eh?
     Greer is, of course, the Old Guard’s legal consigliere. Recently, he helped protect OC Public Administrator John Williams from the obvious implications of two damning and fun-filled OC Grand Jury reports. He helped that rat bastard Raghu Mathur negotiate a sweet exit from the South Orange County Community College District when Board Prez Don Wagner finally got fed up with his conniving ways.
     Who knows what else this shyster has been up to.
     I love it. Street’s on the outside, and he’s got no friends. But he’s fighting back, and he’s calling Greer a boob.
     Yes, Greer is a boob or worse. But there are other truths that are dying to be said.
     In my imagination, Street decides to turn a new leaf and cease being a corrupt and hypocritical Cave Man. He sells out his former knuckle-dragging friends.
     And it's wonderful.

Grandpa's German Communist associations

     Today, I came across some photos that were found among my grandfather's things after he died in 1998 (Opa was 91). They include pictures of relatives, of the family home and town (Böblingen), and of many German Shepherds, including Arko, a dog of legend in the Bauer family.

     But I also found the picture above.

     I had been told that Opa's brother was active in the German Communist Party. I have a photo of Opa hanging with his brother and his pals in Berlin in the twenties. They're all wearing Communist Party uniforms, it appears.

     The people in the picture above are mostly wearing uniforms. They could be Communist uniforms.

     I zeroed in on the people:

     Aha! The flag includes the words "wir sind bereit!" ("we are ready!"), and that certainly sounds like a party slogan. I looked closer:

     Sure enough, the image below the words is the famous clenched fist. I did some checking, and German Communists routinely used the clench fist as their symbol. (Their version of the fist usually has the thumb on the right.) It is possible that the flag symbolizes, in particular, leftist hopes and aspirations with regard to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), which inspired fervent support of the Republicans from the international Marxist community. (Meanwhile, Ford and GM, among others, supported the fascists, who ultimately won.)
     So there you go.
     But which of the people in the photo, if any, are connected to Opa and thus the Bauers? Tomorrow, I'll bring the picture to my dad, who might have some answers.
     As you know, the Nazis targeted Jews, but also Gypsies and other groups, including Communists. I'm not sure how (or whether) Opa's brother was targeted owing to his left-wing, anti-fascist politics. I do know that Opa got into trouble. His friends in town saved him by arranging to have him join the Wehrmacht (Army), despite his age (he was 33 in 1940). Or so says my father.
     Opa (Otto) served with Rommel in Africa but later fought in Italy. He was captured by the British, I believe, in 1944.
     Few people are aware that German POWs were typically kept for years after the war. That's what happened to Opa, who was kept in a terrible camp in Egypt, where many of his colleagues died. When his British jailers reckoned that Opa was about to die, they allowed him to go home.
     He lived another fifty years.
     I came across a post card that Opa sent home during his time in the POW camp. Unfortunately, I can find no date on it:

     Essentially, the letter wishes everyone (his wife, Luise, and the two kids, Ruth and Gunther) a good Christmas and New year. He hopes they experience happiness and peace. 

     It is a very brief and sad message.

I do believe that this is Herr Arko, dog

He, too, hated fascists

Our delightful world of doltocratic reality-detachitude

     “Detachment from reality.” There’s an interesting notion. All of us, I think, are somewhat detached from What Is. Few are entirely detached. There’s lots of room in the middle.
     Some people are both very and entertainingly reality-detached. Such a one is Mr. Steve Rocco of Orange. You’ll recall that, several years ago, the clueless and staunch people of the city of Orange elected him onto the board of the Orange Unified School District—evidently on the strength of his claiming to be an “educator,” something he isn’t. He showed up to board meetings with a signature nutty getup and a daft conspiracy theory having to do with sausages. He was incompetent. He was disruptive. He was a nut.
     There was nothing to be done about it, 'cause this is a democracy, and the people had spoken. His colleagues censured him (so what). They tried to recall him, but they couldn’t get enough staunch Orangeites to stop and think. They snarled instead.
     The people of Orange were saved from persistent Roccohood by a fortuity, namely, a redistricting, which redefined Rocco’s seat’s area in a manner that failed to include Rocco’s home, a treehouse in Hart Park. (I made up that last part.)
     Naturally, later, he was caught stealing ketchup from the Chapman University cafeteria. (He did not steal one of Chapman’s ironic Albert Schweitzer monuments. That would have been intelligible.)
     There was a trial. He blathered about his favorite conspiracy. More sausage. He lost.
     He ran for city council. No luck there. Then, recently, he ran for OC Public Administrator—against incumbent and über jackass John Williams, who happens to be an SOCCCD trustees. Naturally, despite two “scathing” grand jury reports about Williams’ disastrous performance and character, the voters reelected him. They did this even though one or two apparently knowledgeable alternative candidates, not including Mr. Rocco, were also on the ballot.
     (Once in a while, I get into a debate with somebody about whether you’ve got a democracy when the voters are persistently bone stupid (well, bone ignorant)—and also persistently incapable of recognizing that fact. Some say yes: it’s just a shitty kind of democracy is all, a Doltocracy. Some say no: focus on the manipulators, the “engineers of consent,” they say. They’re the real rulers. Owing to the apparently limited intents of the so-called “manipulators,” I tend to favor the first view.)
     Well, according to the Greater Orange News Service, Rocco is at it again:

Controversial former Orange Unified School Board Trustee Steve Rocco has pulled papers to run in Trustee Area 7 of the sprawling Greater Orange school district. Rocco served one turbulent term on the OUSD Board … and then a recall effort led by other Board members that failed due to lack of signatures. He eventually was ousted not by recall or election, but by a redistricting…. Trustees in OUSD must live in the Area they represent, but are elected at-large).Trustee Area 7 is represented by Trustee Rick Ledesma and his term expires in November. Ledesma was one of the few people who managed not to get into a conflict with Rocco, at one point even sponsoring Rocco putting two Agenda items on the Board’s agenda. When Rocco’s home was moved into Ledesma’s area, Rocco declared that he would not run against Ledesma….

     OK, so, on top of being a lunatic, Rocco is disloyal to his friends and doesn’t keep his word. But that just makes him ordinary.

     According to Mr. Cunningham over on the Red County blog, the people of Orange aren’t about to make the same mistake twice, but I’m not so sure. I recall talking to a hotshot political scientist in the middle of the Steve Frogue recall (back in ’98). Said Professor Hotshot: it could be that your recall effort will only make Frogue’s name vaguely familiar to voters as they enter the voting booth in a couple of years. Voters don't think; they don't pay attention. So they won’t remember that Frogue's a nut and a Holocaust denier; they’ll remember only his name.
     So, natch, they’ll vote for ‘im.
     In a way, I hope Rocco wins. He may be a nut, but he doesn’t seem to have vices exactly. (Not like Williams, who’s all Shit-Eating-Grin.) If you’re going to have a democracy that, owing to the foolishness of the people, barely works, it’s better to elect incompetent lunatics than incompetent, smiling Shit-shire Cats.
     It’s no less ridiculous, but it’s a smidge less corrupt.

Westphal v. Wagner moves forward

     Just got word that the lawyers filed our “opening brief” last night—in Westphal v. Wagner, our suit challenging prayer practices in the SOCCCD.
     As you know, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expressly forbids government “establishing” religion. When trustees and college/district officials lead prayer (e.g., at commencement), they are acting as agents of the government. At such times, the government is leading religious prayer (“invoking” the Lord) before the religiously diverse community that the colleges serve.
     Among the plaintiffs are theists, agnostics, and atheists. They represent members of the community and faculty and students at the two colleges.
     I’m told that “defendants” (namely, SOCCCD Board Pres. Wagner, et al.) have 28 days to respond, but they’ll likely get an extension. After they file their response, we can file a reply.
     Then: oral argument in court.
     The lawyers happened to mention that there are 700 pages in the “Excerpts of Record,” which comprises evidence from both sides.
     Sheesh!

     For those who wish to read Red Emma’s book review in Sunday’s Times, here’s the link: Book review: 'Kicking In: Stories' by Richard Wirick

Change: shampoo once came in glass bottles

     Yes, I remember Prell in particular. In that glass bottle. You could kill a guy with it.
     (A reader inspired my Prellian reverie.)

     That reverie inspired yet another: I recall my family's pink '55 Ford station wagon:

     Here are Annie and I, leaning on the old beast. This would have been about 1958.

     We kept the darned thing well into the 60s. Drove down from BC to Southern Cal with it twice: in 1958 (Disneyland!) and then again in 1959. It's what we were driving when we finally got permission to stay in the U.S. in 1960.

     The color: it was a weird pink, but I do believe that Ford called it "salmon."

     Yet another pic of the salmon wagon, or at least its front end.

     "Who's this lady with dad?", I recently asked my mother.

     "Oh, she vas a mudder*—vutt do you call it? — in Hamburg, I tink," she answered.

     "A mother?"

     "Yes, you know. She ran a business vit prostitutes!"

     "She was a 'Madame'?"

     "Yes, a 'Madame'! She vas one of dose. Her daughter vas a friend of ours back den. Gisele. Dat's her little boy."

     "Gisele's boy?"

     "Yah, dat boy vas raised in dat whorehouse," she added, disapprovingly.

     Don't know what this is about. I think they had stopped along the "Pan-Canadian Highway"— a dirt road — and mom (in the middle) was helping start a fire so they could boil water for coffee or something.
     No doubt Blondie was helpful in that regard. That's her grandson over by the fish wagon.
     Dad tells me the boy ended up "really fucked up."
     "Yeah?"
     "Oh yeah."

     Gisele was pretty hot. I'm surprised I don't remember her.
     I bet she had a heart of gold.

     (*OK, I admit that I exaggerated my mom's accent. It isn't that thick. But her speech is very German nonetheless. Heimatland!)


* * *


You don't see salmon colored things much anymore. Above: a Salmon T-Bird.

My folks recently at the Bagdad Cafe
My mom's still a fan of all things "Hollywood"
My dad is still NOT
He liked the french fries though

The University of California and online degrees: money saver? crappola?

UC online degree proposal rattles academics (San Francisco Chronicle)

     Taking online college courses is, to many, like eating at McDonald's: convenient, fast and filling. You may not get filet mignon, but afterward you're just as full.
     Now the University of California wants to jump into online education for undergraduates, hoping to become the nation's first top-tier research institution to offer a bachelor's degree over the Internet comparable in quality to its prestigious campus program.
     "We want to do a highly selective, fully online, credit-bearing program on a large scale - and that has not been done," said UC Berkeley law school Dean Christopher Edley, who is leading the effort.
     But a number of skeptical faculty members and graduate student instructors fear that a cyber UC would deflate the university's five-star education into a fast-food equivalent, cheapening the brand. Similar complaints at the University of Illinois helped bring down that school's ambitious Global Campus program last fall after just two years.
     UC officials say theirs will be different.
     On Wednesday in San Francisco, UC's governing Board of Regents will hear about a pilot program of 25 to 40 courses to be developed after UC raises $6 million from private donors. The short-term goal is to take pressure off heavily enrolled general education classes like writing and math, Edley said.. . .
     Long term, the idea is to expand access to the university while saving money. Tuition for online and traditional courses would be the same. But with students able to take courses in their living rooms, the university envisions spending less on their education while increasing the number of tuition-paying students - helpful as state financial support drops.. . .
     UC wouldn't be the first university to offer undergraduate degrees online. Among the most successful is the University of Massachusetts' "UMassOnline," which includes graduate degrees. It reported revenue growth of 20 percent since last year, to $56 million, and 14 percent enrollment growth, to 45,815 students.. . .
     But UC says it's looking for something qualitatively different, possibly like Stanford University's high-end – and cyber – graduate engineering degree.. . .
     But some UC faculty and graduate student instructors believe removing face-to-face interaction by definition diminishes quality.
     In May, student instructors delivered a less-than-subtle warning to the regents.
     "We find Dean Edley's cyber campus to be just the beginning of a frightening trajectory that will undoubtedly end in the complete implosion of public higher education" in California, Berkeley doctoral student Shane Boyle testified.
     Using a slightly more sober tone, the Berkeley Faculty Association expressed similar concerns in a May report.
     "The danger is not only degraded education, but centralized academic policy that undermines faculty control of academic standards and curriculum," it said. "It is also likely that the whole thing will be a boondoggle."
     Furthermore, the report said, online instruction is "inappropriate for many subjects and types of learning.". . .
     The UC Board of Regents will meet Tuesday through Thursday at UCSF-Mission Bay Community Center, 1675 Owens St., San Francisco.
     Discussion: The Committee on Educational Policy will discuss five items, including the online undergraduate degree pilot project, beginning at 9:35 a.m. Wednesday.