Silver Bullet

Vice President Joe Biden culminated a week of meetings on gun policy Friday, telling representatives of the video game industry that “there's no silver bullet” when it comes to confronting gun violence. “We know this is a complex problem,” he said, emphasizing the diversity of groups he has consulted since the initiative began in late December, including law enforcement, medical groups, hunters and gun owners and the entertainment industry. That range, he said, proved that the video game industry has not been not been singled out. “I come to this meeting with no judgment.

Vice President Joe Biden culminated a week of meetings on gun policy Friday, telling representatives of the video game industry that “there's no silver bullet” when it comes to confronting gun violence. “We know this is a complex problem,” he said, emphasizing the diversity of groups he has consulted since the initiative began in late December, including law enforcement, medical groups, hunters and gun owners and the entertainment industry. That range, he said, proved that the video game industry has not been not been singled out. “I come to this meeting with no judgment.

State Democratic Chairman Bill Press was musing over lunch whether there might be a "silver bullet" Treasurer Kathleen Brown could use to bring down Gov. Pete Wilson. Not likely, I said. Afterward, I realized this was wrong. A bullet with the magic to finish off Wilson indeed does exist, but more about that later. First we pondered the bullets already fired at the Republican incumbent. In my view, some had wounded him, he had been grazed by others, and a few were duds. None was silver.

Especially here in California, we hear the tocsin sounding about "drought, drought, drought," and yet we look out and there is the wet, azure Pacific Ocean. How is that for cognitive dissonance? The taunting paradox drove sailors mad; in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the seamen bemoaned, "Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. " The desalination of seawater into freshwater has been almost as alluring as the Philosopher's Stone, which promised to turn lead into gold.

It really does seem quite amazing that an unpopular, uncharismatic governor is on the verge of reelection when voters all across America are in a mood to boot incumbents. Then again, most of the well-known incumbents being threatened are Democrats: Govs. Mario Cuomo in New York, Ann Richards in Texas and Lawton Chiles in Florida; Sens. Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts, Charles Robb in Virginia, Jim Sasser in Tennessee--and Dianne Feinstein in California.

Silver Bullet, a Santa Cruz-70 skippered by John DeLaura of Waikiki Yacht Club, finished at 12:24:42 a.m. Friday to take line honors in the 1,125-mile yacht race from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta. Hal Ward's Nelson-Marek 70, Cheval, was 26 minutes behind Silver Bullet, and by 7:30 a.m., three other yachts had finished. Silver Bullet's elapsed time was about 12 hours short of the record, 4 days 23 hours, set by Dick Daniels' MacGregor 65, Joss, in 1985.

Roy Disney's Pyewacket held about a one-mile lead over John DeLaura's Silver Bullet at the first position reports Sunday morning for boats that started the 37th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii from Point Fermin on Saturday. Good northwesterly winds of 17-20 knots allowed the leaders to average 9.7 knots along the rhumb line, the direct course for the 2,225 nautical miles to Diamond Head.

John DeLaura and his crew aboard the Santa Cruz-70 sloop Silver Bullet were celebrating their second consecutive corrected-time victory in a sailing race to Mexico Thursday. With all of the 37 yachts in Newport Harbor Yacht Club's Cabo San Lucas race finished, Silver Bullet was declared the handicap winner in Class A and Fleet. She recently made a clean sweep--first to finish, first in Class A and first overall--in Del Rey Yacht Club's 1,125-mile race from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta.

Paul Simonsen's Santa Cruz-70, Mongoose, out of San Francisco, logged a 263-mile run Wednesday to take over the elapsed-time lead in the 2,225-mile Transpacific yacht race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Mongoose reported a position 690 miles from the finish off Diamond Head, moving nine miles ahead of the previous leader, Mitchell Rouse's Taxi Dancer, in a brisk northeasterly breeze. Taxi Dancer's run was 254 miles.

A perturbed Persuasion, a perplexed Pyewacket, an Orient Express running slightly behind schedule and a bull's-eye by a Silver Bullet: all those feelings were among the baggage that weary sailors carried ashore as the 37th biennial Transpacific Race to Hawaii started winding down Tuesday. John DeLaura's Santa Cruz 70 Silver Bullet took a shortcut and finished Monday night in 9 days, 9 hours 11 minutes 17 seconds.

  President Obama launched a fiery defense of his energy policy Thursday amid growing pressure to stem rising gasoline prices, perhaps by releasing oil from the nation's emergency petroleum reserve. Obama avoided mentioning the Strategic Petroleum Reserve option, but acknowledged the pain Americans feel at the pump and mocked Republicans for "acting like 'We've got a magic wand and we will give you cheap gas forever.' " "We've seen it all before; we know better. You know better," he told a crowd at Prince George's Community College in Maryland.

Even Joe Swanberg has to stop to count the number of Joe Swanberg movies out there right now. Just this year he premiered "Uncle Kent" at Sundance and unveiled "Silver Bullets" and "Art History" at the Berlin International Film Festival. The 30-year-old filmmaker also released "Autoerotic" on video-on-demand with limited theatrical play dates. He has been shooting throughout 2011 as well and is on course to soon finish his 15th film (10 of those he made in just the last two years). The AFI Fest 2011, which starts Thursday, will spotlight Swanberg, hosting the world premiere of his newest film, "The Zone," alongside screenings of "Art History" and "Silver Bullets.

At a time when most people are avoiding metals such as lead and mercury, there's a full-out rush among the health-conscious for silver, a metal that is showing up in elixirs and sprays, soaps and toothpastes. Considered potentially toxic by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, silver enjoys a lustrous reputation in alternative health circles.

Six years ago on this date, I wrote that "California needs an electric train set for Christmas." Santa still hasn't come through. I had in mind a big train set that's 700 miles long with locomotives barreling at 200 mph. A bullet train. To be honest, I'm no longer as excited about it as I once was, anyway. Turns out, as a Sacramentan, I wouldn't be allowed to use the train for a very long time. Neither would people in San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Modesto or Stockton.

President Bush's plan to slow the mortgage meltdown could help prevent hundreds of thousands of people from losing their homes, but many others would get no relief -- and the plan's effect on the broader economy remained a topic of sharp debate. Under the plan outlined Thursday, lenders would be given broad latitude to fix troubled loans, notably those with low introductory teaser rates that will reset to higher payments between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It was in a sticky heat on Monday that heralded freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen walked across campus toward his first fall football practice at Notre Dame. He wore sandals and a red T-shirt, rolled up to mid-chest. He carried one football shoe in each hand. It marked a beginning, for sure, but of what? More than being the answer for Irish football right now, Clausen is just one of many questions.

A light, southwesterly breeze greeted the 49 sailing yachts that showed up for the start of the 35th Transpac race from Los Angeles to Honolulu Friday. It was an orderly start, with John DeLaura's Santa Cruz-70, Silver Bullet, leading the ultra-light 70-raters across the line as the fleet headed toward the west end of Catalina Island, first and only mark of the 2,225-mile course to Diamond Head on the island of Oahu.

Funny how the images and phrases of long ago can thrive so vividly in aging memories that stumble now over new ATM passwords. A fiery horse with the speed of light.... A faithful Indian companion.... Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, the Lone Ranger rides again. Ninety years ago this week, Jack Carlton Moore (later Clayton Moore) was born in Chicago and dreamed of becoming a trapeze artist.

Opening comments Excerpts from the appearance Thursday of national security advisor Condoleezza Rice before the commission investigating the attacks of Sept. 11. I thank the commission for arranging this special session. Thank you for helping to find a way to meet the nation's need to learn all we can about the Sept. 11th attacks, while preserving important constitutional principles. This commission, and those who appear before it, have a vital charge.