Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

--George Orwell, Animal Farm

Blogs have been much in the news lately, especially since the 2004 elections.

Fog,	fog,	and more fog

As with most things, by the time the mainstream media (MSM) picks up on something, that thing has already jumped the shark and is well along in its bastardization process, overwhelmed by the corrosive forces of power and money.

Blogging, in its current format, is imperceptibly different from its MSM brethren. Bloggers have been welcomed to the media table as second-class partners and are now routinely referenced by online news sites, network newscasts, and major papers.

So this is good you say, more channels for information, more voices heard, competition improves quality. But as I said, mostly gone by now are the days of kooky individuals posting some online rants for a few diehard readers. Blogging has hit the big time now and to quote Bill Maher, "it's all about making the numbers." The bloggers you hear cited by the MSM are not unknowns working independently and laboring anonymously -- you don't get 5,000+ hits a day without connections and money. In case you're not getting what I'm saying: the establishment has already co-opted this form of information. It is no longer trustworthy because some suits somewhere realized a) it can be used a weapon in the battle for perception; and b) hell, if we're gonna manipulate people with it, we might as well make some money off of it too.

The MSM, as usual, in its clumsy, short-sighted pursuit of the numbers, has now hyperbolized blogs as the next generation of reporting. Hey, fucking heads up MSM: blogs are not regulated, edited, researched information-gathering entities. They are online journals that reflect the personal, political, or commercial biases of their authors and their authors' sponsors. (See preceding paragraph.) There is no expectation or interest in objectivity. Call it the Crossfire Effect.

And while we're at it, is anybody really buying the whole Syrian assassinated the guy in Lebanon thing? I mean really. What has Syria been doing lately? Nothing. Sure, it has troops in Lebanon, but Syria is running scared of the US right now and is totally toeing our line. Nope, this has Mossad and/or CIA written all over it. What motive would Syria have had? They don't want to piss us off. Why rile up the whole world with this assissination? And what would have been the benefit anyway, even if the whole world wasn't watching?

This clearly, clearly benefits the US agenda to promote democracy in the Middle East. Pure Black Ops, complete with cover story (The Syrians did it! the Syrians did it! In my elementary school, the saying went, "he who smelt it, dealt it.) It is part of a comprehensive campaign to pick off the low-hanging fruit in the Mid East and cluster these easy victories to create the perception of progress. You hear the same examples trundled out: Iraq (we know the problems they're having there); Egypt (it is progress, albeit pretty toothless); and Saudi Arabia (women at the polls anyone?). And now they've got Lebanon as a shining example of Bush's democratic vision taking root.

A little too tidy for my cynical disposition to stomach.

With my job situation as it is (there isn't one), I couldn't help but think of health care issues and costs as I bombed downhill on Blue Sugar in the Lower Quarry. It's not overwhelming, but it's there in the back of my head, using up concentration resources that should be focused on the trail.

The entire ride today I was racing the fog, which was coming in hard and heavy from the NW. Could I beat it to San Pedro Summit? I decided to try. The fog quickly engulfed the Fitz and Moss Beach while I was passing through. It was slow to creep up the ridge towards the summit though, so I was able to make the summit in sunlight on my way to Pacifica.

By the time I got back to the summit from the Adobe gate in Pacifica, I thought the fog would be cresting, but it seemed to be a real low fog. The summit was still clear when I passed back through.

I passed three downhillers pushing their rigs up the Pacifica side of the summit. They were carrying shovels to work on the trail, but come on, Old San Pedro Mountain is not a steep climb, you got to be able to ride that, even with shovels, even with downhill bikes.

Also at the summit, I encountered two other MTBers. One of these riders came 100 yards off the main trail to the lookout point I was resting on, didn't acknowledge my "howdy," rode a circle around me staring only at me, then rode back to the main trail without saying a word. He looked like a cop too. Short, graying crew cut and mustache, 50ish, stocky. Whaddya want copper?

There has just been a FLOOD of security presence around here lately. Last week there was the motorcycle cop at the Crack, there was a San Mateo County Sheriff at the north end of the Fitz on my last ride, the sheriff I encountered at Johnston House, the 69'ing cops at Pillar Point, water rescue teams at Surfer's Beach, and today a dark blue Chevy Tahoe with tinted windows on North Peak Utility Road, which if off-limits to non-authorized vehicles.

Maybe somebody spotted an Al Queda submarine off Maverick's break.