Spirit of San Francisco

  

   http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=spirit-of-san-fransisco-2010-03-29

   Monday, March 29, 2010

“Be aware,” I said to Jane while we were riding a cable car in San Francisco, “this is the spirit of San Francisco we are in.”

I was not sure if the bearded, hat-wearing ticket inspector in the car heard me saying this to my friends, but on Thursday morning, while we were barely hanging onto the sides of the cable car, I was stunned by the beauty of San Francisco in every corner of the city.

The city’s personality was visible in the first minutes of arrival. Its famous hills at first sight show that personality even more strongly. Its cable cars are still in operation, all of them, I think, from the 1920s and ’30s: “It is the world’s last permanently operational manually operated cable-car system.”

I had just tagged along with Jane to see San Francisco at last. We first went to visit its Chinatown and entered one of the authentic Chinese restaurants during lunchtime. The two-story restaurant was packed with only Chinese people. Our waiter, who could hardly speak English, was not happy to see and have to serve our table. He knew that it was going to take forever for us, the only non-Chinese table in the basement of the restaurant, to figure out the menu, following countless questions.

In the streets of Chinatown, it was not hard to read through history, and see the pain of Chinese immigrants in the beginning of the last century, who apparently tried to build another city with the same architecture as their homeland.

I sneaked into one of those Chinese bakeries, in which I hoped to find some rare Chinese sweets. Instead, I was caught by surprise by a Chinese saleswoman in the shop, who appeared to be in her late 60s or early 70s but was aggressively after customers to buy more sweets and do it quickly.

San Francisco’s homeless

San Francisco is flocked with the homeless. Every corner has its own group of homeless people. I have never seen that many homeless people anywhere in my entire life. I asked many random people in the city about this, including a bank guard I met on Powell Street downtown. The guard, who is not married but expecting his first baby soon with his girlfriend, told me that homelessness is kind of a chosen way of life for many of them. I was perplexed by this explanation, having difficulty understanding how not having a home could be part of one’s preference.

One needs to get along with homeless people to enjoy San Francisco. During our nights out, especially in the downtown area, there was not one block without a homeless person begging for change or a cigarette. Without having enough change or cigarettes to share, going to venture out in the city is just a grave mistake.

I had one of the best experiences in my life when entering a tiny, underground stand-up comedy show without knowing what to expect. In this teeny room, along with 20 to 22 other people, I watched seven different stand-up comics within an hour’s time. These amateur comics were fully engaging their small audience, and there was no way to be distracted by other occurrences. During the several performances, a couple of audience members took a beating for their inattentiveness and were grilled ruthlessly by these penniless, but snobby comics.

I also took a swing from one of the comics. We were a little late for the show, and when we entered, we suddenly became the center of attention in the room. After I answered a question, Turkey became the center of the comedy, and the performer started to go on a roll, concluding with more harsh jokes about Ottoman history and especially Ottoman-Armenian issues.

‘Grass’ offered on the streets

I became friends with one of the performers at the show, a 22-year-old guy named Sam. During one of the breaks, we started to have a casual conversation about Montaigne, the 16th-century French writer. After some time, he took out some “grass” from his pocket and offered it to me as well without any hesitation. I was stunned by Sam’s relaxed attitude and hastily asked him whether this could be a matter of concern for the San Francisco Police Department. He looked at me and said sarcastically, “I am sure they have bigger issues to handle at the moment.”

Far from being a war between hippies and police, the fight to legalize marijuana in California focuses on whether decriminalizing and taxing it can help with the state’s fiscal crisis. Marijuana has been legal for medical purposes since the mid-90s in California. However, in the November elections, there will be also a ballot question for the Californians to legalize its use for fun as well.

Many California lawmakers support this new initiative and hope that the potential tax windfall will help the state, which currently faces the biggest fiscal challenge in its history. California is known to be the initiator of many new laws in the history of the U.S., new laws that have, in the past, quickly spread to other states. Many argue that legalizing marijuana in California could also make a nationwide impact on relaxing drug regulations.

When I saw the situation on the ground, on the sidewalks of San Francisco, where many times I came across a group of hippies smoking in the midst of everyone without seeing any reason to hide, it was clear that pot has been already legalized on the West Coast. For someone who does not leave Washington and its political theaters much, seeing the West Coast, its homeless people, its laid-back nature and the great Napa Valley, where we tasted some of the best wines in the world, was a great treat indeed, an experience I just wanted to share at this time.

 

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Guest - SF-Tehrani 2010-03-30 22:52:35		As a 20-year denizen of San Francisco, otherwise known as "The City", I'm glad you enjoyed your visit here. I currently live in a suburb of SF in the middle of the Silicon Valley, I commute to "The City" to my job where I pass by the homeless everyday. I know the sight of the homeless people is not familiar for the out-of-towners, but we are used to them. Two points that are worth mentioning. One, San Francisco is not ashamed of its homeless and we don't hide them. Two, the kind of homeless people that you see on the streets usually have major mental health problems who spend years on the streets. The other and much bigger homeless population consist of families and adults who have been affected by the major economic recession that has hit the American working families for some time now. Fortunately there are many forms for assistance for them here so those families don't have to sleep on the sidewalks. SF is generous to the poor. Beside the Chines there are a lot of "Asians" in SF.

Guest - Murat 2010-03-30 22:47:10		If I have to pick one city that reminds me of Istanbul, it would be SF for sure. The bay, the bridges, the boats, deep blue sky, that constant cool breeze, the hills, all reminds one of Bosphorus, impossible to miss if you have ever been to both. The climate is the closest to Mediterranean in the whole of North America, and hits your face warmly as soon as you step off the plane. As in many Western and Southern cities, homeless abound in street corners unfortunately, and as explained, for many, it is a way of life, a choice. It is always one of my favorite desintations.

Guest - Yilderim Beyazid 2010-03-30 19:30:07		Hey, I got an idea!! If you liked all the hippies and homeless people from San Fransicko so much, then why didn't you take any back to Istanbul with you. I'm sure the Turkish government would just love to have people roaming the streets, smoking hash, and using the streets as their personal toilets, the grand prize for being a socialist utopia. I personally would send you money to take them all with you, they would fit in great with the AKP folks. Allahallah !! what is this world coming too?

Guest - Mike 2010-03-30 17:09:05		I'm a California native who is from the SF Bay Area. I'm fortunate to be from such a dynamic area. As was stated, the homeless problem seems a little overblown. However, yes there are a lot of homeless. It's almost part a the culture in the city. I have also spent a great deal of time in Turkey. I find Turkey a wonderful country. I have been fortunate to have traveled a great deal throughout the land. And find the culture, people, cuisine, and boundless history pulling me back.

Guest - Brian 2010-03-30 14:48:14		Having been lucky enough to live in both SF and Istanbul, I have to agree with Wolf. It is an exaggeration to say there are homeless people on every street corner, but having said that there are many more visible in SF than Istanbul. It is a beautiful city, far nicer than the concrete jungles in most of the USA,

Guest - denny 2010-03-30 14:01:48		SF has many other treats... its lovely bridges, forests, sea, alcatraz etc. and it needs more tourists!! come over!

Guest - wolf 2010-03-30 13:16:28		That is not true that you see home less people in every corner of Frisco. I was there fore three weeks last summer, and I did not see more beggers or homeless there, than I do during a regular saturday morning walk along the Bosphorous in the Bebek area. It was mentioned about the pain of the Chinesee, but it should also be noted that they are now very successful in California. For example, 40% of all hightech companies today in Silicon Valley are owned but Indians (from India, not native americans) and Chinesee. The prestigious universities in California are also full of Chinesee faculty.

Guest - Former Californian 2010-03-30 05:11:41		Thanks for a very nice sketch. Your first-impression views as a foreign visitor provide important perspectives.

Guest - Squeedle 2010-03-30 03:45:54		While reading your account I kept thinking, wow he really didn't like SF! And then I got to the end and realized that you did. I guess that shows how hard it is to communicate one's tone in print. I'm glad you enjoyed our fine city. I hope you come back. There are actually quite a few Turks in the area as evidenced by the number of people who flocked to the Hüsnü Şenlendirici concert . . . this summer I will be visiting Istanbul. I hope I'll be able write a similar account of how much I enjoyed it :)

Guest - A Walrus 2010-03-30 00:52:59		Sounds like you had a good time there. Have you noticed, a lot of your politicians are trying to get the Ottoman Empire back under their control?

Netanyahu in the Roosevelt Room

     http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=netanyahu-in-the-roosevelt-room-2010-03-26

    Friday, March 26, 2010

United States President Barack Obama, following the successful passage of a health care plan in the House of Representatives, suddenly started to look like a grand strategist who knows-it-all and plays a “long-term” strategic game. And it is true that nobody can and should underestimate his historic overhaul of the health sector that no other U.S. president has been able to accomplish.

The health care reform was the top priority agenda in domestic affairs, and Obama handled it triumphantly at the end. Now, one wonders if the president will turn to his top foreign agenda in foreign affairs; namely the Israel-Palestine peace process.

Foreign Policy, or FP, a magazine founded by Samuel P. Huntington, and published by the Washington Post, one of the most read foreign affairs magazines, has become unusually warm and embracing towards Obama's Israel-Palestine policy lately.

FP ran a story just last Monday, a day after the health care vote at the House, by Marc Lynch that argued how the successful passage of the reform could mean that Obama might have a Middle East strategy, after all. According the author, so far it is "Obama's method to lay out an ambitious but realistic final status objective in stark terms and then to let political hardball unfold around those objectives."

As we have seen during the health care debate, once the ambitious goal, which is to overhaul the health care sector was set, his radical opponents got more filled with ire by "raising the rhetorical pitch until they discredit themselves [recoiling] from their overheated, apocalyptic and nutty words. And then, just as the Washington D.C. conventional wisdom declares his ambition dead, they suddenly wake up to the reality that he's won."

Would there be another similar Obama game plan ongoing or even unfolding for the Israeli-Palestine conflict? Did Obama also set an aspiring and unlikely objective at the first sight, like a full settlement freeze for the Israeli administration?

Following this ambitious goal, Obama's radical opponents, in this scenario, the Benjamin Netanyahu government with all of its hard-core, right-wing forces in the coalition, revealed themselves along with their sharp and unwarranted statements to reach a point that they started to lose their own reputations. The latest episode of announcing the new housing permits during the close friend of Israel, Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Jerusalem, was one of those rare moments for the Israeli administration to discredit their posture in the ongoing dispute.

Netanyahu went on with this unbending posture and took the stage Monday night at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, policy conference, just a few blocks from where Obama resides. His statements in that speech chilled the Washington political theater once more. He said: "The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It's our capital."

Such a stern statement, which runs exactly opposite to the direction of the Obama administration's, was made only a day before Netanyahu went to visit Obama. Netanyahu was exposing "daylight between Israel and the United States" forcefully and plainly, while the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said such daylight let "others seek to exploit" at the same conference earlier in the day.

It could have been safely argued that the divergence between the two sides cannot be more “day-lit” than Netanyahu's AIPAC/Washington speech, only if one did not witness how the White House handled the meetings with Netanyahu a day after. As widely reported since then, Netanyahu had received "the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea" at the White House with no photo-ops or a kind of joint statement.

Going back to the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Tuesday evening, according to the accounts, when the first meeting between Obama and Netanyahu ended, Obama told Netanyahu that he could stay at the White House with his staff to consider his proposals, so that if he changed his mind he could inform the president right away. “I’m still around,” the Yediot Ahronot daily quoted Mr. Obama saying. “Let me know if there is anything new.”

Repeated questions to Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, on Wednesday afternoon on the substance of these meetings and why Netanyahu was met with such a cold-shouldered presentation, Gibbs said, "No, look, they spoke for over two hours last night, face to face, so I think we have a strong relationship with a strong ally. There are areas that they discussed last night, some of which they agree on and some of which they disagree on."

According to Gibbs, in the same conference at the White House, the first meeting on Tuesday evening between the two leaders took about one and half hours and concluded at 7 p.m.

"Then ... Prime Minister Netanyahu remained in the White House and consulted with his staff in the Roosevelt Room and then requested to see the President again, and they returned to the Oval Office at about 8:20 p.m.," he said.

One wonders what was going through Netanyahu's mind in those minutes at the Roosevelt Room while he was reviewing the meeting, which Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper called "disgraced and isolated" while others call "humiliated, after being dumped for dinner."

The Times Online explains well in its March 25 report what Netanyahu's calculation was before his visit to Washington: "[Netanyahu] had calculated that [Obama] would be too tied up with domestic issues ahead of the mid-term elections to focus seriously on the Middle East." Instead, the health care bill that was passed only Sunday had suddenly freed up Obama's hands and boosted his image as stronger than ever while meeting with Netanyahu.

Robert Wright, a journalist who writes regularly for the New York Times' online blog, predicted the following scenarios after Netanyahu's visit to Obama: "[As] more and more people are realizing, the only long-run alternatives to a two-state solution are: a) a one-state solution in which an Arab majority spells the end of Israel’s Jewish identity; b) Israel’s remaining a Jewish state by denying the vote to Palestinians who live in the occupied territories, a condition that would be increasingly reminiscent of apartheid; c) the apocalypse."

One can only speculate what was the conversation between him and his staff at the Roosevelt Room. I will take a wild guess and say, Netanyahu during those moments was realizing how serious the crack was between his country and the U.S. Netanyahu might have also underestimated Obama's possible “long-term” strategy, as the GOP underestimated him in the health care battle.

Prime Minister Netanyahu must, and should not be an apocalyptic messenger for his nation, nor work toward dimming the two-state prospect.

 

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Guest - A Turk in NY 2010-03-28 20:24:39		It's the hardliners on both sides that don't want want peace. Weather it be the Israeli religious fanatics or Muslim extremists that are bent on destroying Israel. They both have to much to lose if there was peace. Having said that, USA can fix what they broke. USA is holding the cards and they could play it anyway that they want. It's a different world today than past American administrations. This administration has already shown that they can be tough on Israel. Although this could be a show for the world, I think it is still encouraging. Nothing ever stays the same, something will eventually give. And we actually may witness a shift in American policy that may (underline may) result in peace prevailing.

Guest - A Turk in NY 2010-03-28 20:02:36		@Guest- Ignoring the world is easier said than done with a global economy. Consider that USA embassies throughout the world is growing and expanding everyday. The corporations in the USA would not have it any other way as it pushes globalization to sell their products, whether it be iphones or weapons. Funny how you mention that the health care is "stupid", but at the same time you say that "USA should ignore the world and then and focus on fixing America"; Isn't that a contradiction? What an ignorant comment. Maybe you don't realize that USA is an empire which feeds off the world. If it didn't you would not be an empire and you thus would be no better off than Mexico.

Guest - guest 2010-03-28 16:55:05		considering how stupid this healthcare reform is, how bad will obamas policy be in the middle east?. lets get serious, there is never going to be peace in the region.there never has been. muslims killing jews, jews killing muslims, muslims killing muslims. obama needs to focus on fixing america and ignore the world

Guest - hukumdar 2010-03-28 09:55:59		Obama will bow to the establishment at the end.. jewish lobbies in washington, including congress are just too big to ignore.. this doesnt look like health care. obama will step back at the end! write this somewhere!

Guest - donha 2010-03-27 21:05:23		Get serious! Israel and the USA are inseparable. The USA will never trade Israel for the Palestinians, any Arab or Muslim state nor for Turkey no matter what the cost. There may be troubles and discord between the two at the moment but that won’t last.

Guest - Murat 2010-03-27 17:34:54		There is nothing more important strategically for USA than the fullfilment of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people and nothing less important than the mythical and non-existant startegic relationship with Israel. As Pentagon put it bluntly, Israel policies are a huge liability to USA and costs American lives everyday.

Guest - brannen 2010-03-27 04:20:35		Netanyahu is a apoalyptic messenger and end of the middle east and the world is very near!! Sorry to inform you all by this way...

Another concentrated Sunday of Washington political theater

     http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=another-concentrated-sunday-of-washington-political-theater-2010-03-22

Monday, March 22, 2010

Sundays are usually to relax and take it easy for the majority of people. It is a day for one to dedicate oneself to family or friends.

However, many times the same Sunday becomes quite a thrilling experience, if one is closely linked to the main political theater of the United States and its center stage, Washington.

Last Sunday was no different than the type of Sunday that I just described. After a year of discussions and sharp fights on the health care bill, the time for voting for the ultimate passage finally arrived. The historic $940 billion Senate bill was passed very late Sunday by a seven vote margin, 219 to 212.

The success made the White House suddenly the winner of the year by demonstrating some tangible success to its supporters. The Democratic fans of the bill have been comparing the successful passage similar to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security in the past.

Now it is time for the Senate to vote on a separate package of fixes, known as a reconciliation bill, which is to be taken up later this week. However, after the successful passage at the House, the result of the passage will put enormous pressure on the Senate to act on it.

On the same Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also flying into Washington, mainly to speak at the American Israel Public Affairs, or AIPAC's, yearly policy conference. However, the visit especially attracted much attention because of the latest rift between the U.S. and Israel administrations, and whether Netanyahu's presence and meetings in the capital would help to ease the jittery relationship.

I participated in the AIPAC's annual conference and observed first hand how tense are the thousands of supporters and dozens of panelists of the strong, right-wing AIPAC.

Many attendees that I talked to during the conference did not see any reason to hide their irritation with the Barack Obama administration, for "it does not do enough to watch over its one and only true friend in the region."

The panelists also constantly blamed the current White House team, by rarely stating openly, but mostly implying politely how little love the White House has shown in recent times for its strongest ally in the Middle East. The panelists were very delicate while criticizing the administration, knowing that many of the participants of the conference are supporters of the Democratic Party, therefore its president at the same time.

Very few administration officials have shown up at the conference so far, and this lack of interest is also proving once more that the most powerful Jewish lobby is far from receiving the kind of attention it used to from previous administrations.

Just before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu once again rejected the idea of the full or even partial freeze of east Jerusalem settlements. The U.S. administration, on the other hand, has wedded itself with the idea of this total freeze, and it could lose much credibility if it has to step back once more, like it did during last summer meetings, before the United Nations Summit in New York.

Israel so far has been disappointed by how the U.S. has been dealing with Iran as well. So far, the White House has neither been able to put together an international coalition to bring meaningful and “crippling” sanctions, nor has it given any kind of support for the military actions on Iranian nuclear capability. In addition, the highest ranking members of the U.S. military have recently voiced their deep concerns over the "special" relationship between the U.S. and Israel, for it endangers American lives throughout the region.

America's relationships with Turkey are also going through a rough patch. Over the weekend, the American-Turkish Council, or ATC, postponed its annual conference which has been held regularly for the last several decades. The ATC openly stated that the reason of the cancellation was the approval of the resolution "by a one-vote margin, a non-binding resolution directing the president to recognize the Armenian ‘genocide.’”

The U.S. administration does not lose sleep over the angry reactions it has been receiving from the Turkish administration. According to a Washington source, who is closely involved with the U.S. administration, "the U.S. Administration is really and still angry this time with the Turks," because they feel they have been cheated by Turkey because it has not moved forward with ratifying the protocols.

I asked this question to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs last week at the White House Press Conference, and reminded him that Turkish Ambassador to Washington Mr. Namık Tan is still absent from Washington. I asked Gibbs whether this occurrence is a matter of concern for the U.S. administration and if his administration is considering taking any expressive steps to assure the Turkish administration.

Gibbs was not ready for such a question and was not able to give me any articulate answer over what the U.S. administration has been thinking over the matter. Accordingly, Philip Gordon, the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs, during a speech last week at the Brookings Institute, a Washington think tank, was very relaxed while stating that the U.S. administration wishes to see the Turkish ambassador back in Washington, and emphasized the independence of the legislation body, so implying that the White House might not be able to do much to prevent the bill, if it comes to it.

Many use Sundays to loosen up and try to forget about the stressful week that is looming ahead. Many Sundays of the Washington political theater, instead, offer just a concentrated and intensive package of what the looming week is about to bring.

 

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Guest - guest 2010-03-23 20:07:17		let not forget this weekend there were the protests againist the war and for immigration reform. the american dream is dead. time for another civil war

Guest - arianna 2010-03-23 18:11:50		He passed the bill and it all matters.. now it is time to change other problematic areas as well... right on!

Guest - wolf 2010-03-23 15:55:59		We have to put the Armenian issue in to some kind of perspctive. Unlike crucial matters such as the health care reform, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, the Armians issue is not at all considered being a key topic discussed in US. Try to see it from US perspective. How much would you care about a historic event which is 100 years old, conducted very far from home, by a country which is fairly stable and which does not raise Islamic terrorists, and with a GDP which is 5% of that of USA? We have to realize that Turkey is not a high priority area for USA simply because 1) we are fairly stable and 2) we are not a key player in terms of economy. US has more important problems to deal with when it comes to its foreign countries.