MONEY

Kinkos                  C$20.22
( ' 10% for Stampede Days)
Kinkos                C$5.10
Phone card at Petro Canada   $10.70

CASH
Cashed US$110 for C$166

Well sometimes I have good timing. After all that waiting and stressing being out of money, I ended up in Calgary for the Stampede, which is the best time to be here. I am at a nice wood platform overlook on Scotchman's Hill, near where I slept last night. Ike showed up, finally, after being gone all day and forcing me to find things to do. I went to Kinkos several times and spent a bunch of money, but got some work done and got into some pissing matches and I think within the next couple of days, all the nasty stunts I'm going to play on people will be done.

Right now they're running the Chuck Wagons and it's pretty exciting. I was talking to a cowboy who was a firefighter and a descendant of English homesteaders. He filled me in on the races and how fast they go and how much they make and how much it costs to run a Chuck Wagon team. They have to have three sets of four horses at $5000 a horse. They have to have a Freightliner to haul them and a truck to pull the Freightliner and they have to feed them the best and all together it comes to about $200,000 Canadian, which ain't cheap. There is a regular circuit which beings in May and ends here. The winner of the Stampede wins $50,000, which would help, I think.

The Stampede grounds are first class and it all of a sudden occurred to me that Calgary has to be an oil town. There are some big fancy buildings and shopping malls and a general air of boom town prosperity. You don't get that from alfalfa or cattle, so it had to be oil. It is. There's lots of oil and gas around and that feeds a pretty booming local economy. Usually I don't like shopping malls and all that stuff, but you get the feeling Calgary has been like the Emerald City for a long time. It's easy to imagine people coming to the Stampede in the old days when it was a big deal to ride or take a wagon all the way from the plains to here, and people must have partied hearty.

Anyway, they're running the Chuck Wagons and then there will be fireworks. I guess I'll hang around for that, then hit the road. I got an e-mail from friend of Jeff Galbraith's named Dano Pendygrasse who is going to be lake fishing this weekend and I might meet up with him. I might find a place to lay low for awhile, wait until more money comes in and then head up for the Yukon. I remember now that I like Canada. The people are very friendly. That fire-fighter guy filled me in on ranching and alfalfa and horse and all kinds of stuff.

I just saw a dog that was a Husky/Queensland heeler cross. Think about that for a minute. I wonder which was which, but either way'..

So Ike is all locked up in the car, which needs cleaning. Earlier today I had those buffalo steaks for lunch and burned a hole in the mattress with the Coleman stove. Oh well, it will force me to buy a more comfortable mattress. The buffalo steaks were really good, even frozen they came out tender and yummy. Buffalo is the other red meat, it's almost better than steak, except I feel bad eating buffalo. They're a noble animal.

What else. Just another Ike day, basically driving back and forth from Kinkos, making phone calls to anyone I could find. It's good that I'm staying here tonight. I should probably go wander through the Stampede grounds, but it's nice and quiet up here on Scotchman's Cliff. Everyone is home watching the stampede on TV right now, and then the fireworks will be later. Up here, out of the traffic, Calgary is not so bad. It's got that thunder-storm summer weather that I like. Earlier today I saw a video clip of an airliner getting nailed by a giant bolt of lightning. I think it was in Japan. This is the link: http://www.swcp.com/~youngj/plane/plane.htm Check it out and shudder. Mom? Joanne? Don't look at it.

I also sent an e-mail to a sportswriter in Hawaii and anyone else who would listen.

This is how it read.

Ferd Lewis
Honolulu Advertiser

July 11, 2001

Mr. Lewis
The other day in Sun Valley, Idaho I was watching a sports highlights and saw two things that got me wondering.

I saw a profile on Ichiro, the Japanese wonderguy who is tearing it up for the Mariners, and driving pitchers nuts. Some are saying he might be MVP this year. He gets around the bases like a barracuda. He's very good, and he made me wonder how many more like him there are in Japan/Korea/Taiwan/the Pacific Islands.

   I mean, what happens to all those Taiwanese kids who win the Little League World Series?

On that same sports show I saw a Minor League MLBB player (Red Sox) get brushed back by a pitch. He didn't like that, so he delivered a Bruce Lee-quality side-kick straight to the catcher's chest, then charged the pitcher. After that it was "On for young and old" as the Australians say.

Those two things got me wondering about a whole bunch of things, which might intrigue you and be the source of a column, and maybe a revolution.

I wonder how many more Ichiros are budding or blossoming in Japan, and throughout Asia. I wonder if Japan/Asia/the Pacific Islands could field a team that would be fully competitive in Major League Baseball.

   And I wonder if Hawaii could provide a stadium for that team to play, and bring MLB baseball to Hawaii and make MLBB truly international.

I wonder if the travel to Hawaii would screw it up, even though there are six teams (Padres, Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Athletics, Mariners) within five hours of Hawaii. The schedule could be juggled, maybe.

Think of a team called "The Pacific Islanders," playing in Hawaii. They would be mostly Japanese, most likely, with the cream of the crop from Korea, Taiwan, China, Philippines and wherever else in the Pacific Islands. Fijians? Tongans? Benny Agbayani? Why not? There are some athletes in the Pacific Islands. I've seen them.

No haole allowed. The teams would be ethnically Asian, whatever that means. I wonder if that would be constitutional.

   I wonder if Hawaii would build a small but high-quality baseball stadium. Maybe 20,000 seats max, and I wonder if Hawaii and mainland tourism and Japanese tourism would be enough to keep that stadium filled for a season. I've been to Pac Bell park and it is awesome: convenient, comfortable. The perfect stadium.

   I wonder if the TV rights to these games in Japan and throughout Asia would pay for the whole shebang: stadium, team, travel, the works. My guess is that it would. I've heard that the Mariners games are going to 26 million homes in Japan right now. that's a big chunk of people. I would imagine the rights would be enough to pay for a team, and I'm sure there'd be enough Japanese money that would throw in, just for the hell and fun of it.

So, I wondered all that, and that karate kick by the minor league player also made me imagine the bench-clearing brawls with an all-Asian team. It would look like a scene out of Enter the Dragon. Works for hockey.

And if the Pacific Islanders worked, why not an all-Canadian team playing in Vancouver, and an all-Caribbean team playing in Cuba. Fidel is a baseball nut, and baseball might help to democratize and help the economy of Cuba. I could see Ted Turner getting behind this, and maybe even George W. They're both baseball crazy and more than a little interested in democratizing the world, and organizing things on our borders.

Cuba pointed nukes at us and Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and China got 55,000 of our guys killed in Vietnam. But, hey: Byegones. Play ball.

Just an idea, but I think the talent and interest are there. Japan is baseball crazy and so are Canada and the Caribbean and Latin America.

   Maybe an all-Central and South American team playing in Mexico. Make the World Series truly world-wide.

For starters, I'd like to see Major League Baseball, Hawaiian-style. "Poooooooi! Get your poi and SPAM musubi!! Get it while it's steaming!! Shave ice heeeeere.!!!"

   I'd buy that for a dollar. Shoots.

Ben Marcus
360-582-0061

That's it for now. Going to go talk to Ike, who came out from his second escape with a face full of cobwebs. Then I might go get a bite and come back up for the fireworks. This is nice. Glad Ike made me stay around.

There are two men groping each other over by the rail. Don't expect that kind of thing here.

2:48 MT FRIDAY JULY 13, 2001 A CAMPGROUND IN LAC DES LACS

ODOMETER: 57901
TRIP METER: 3823

MONEY

Gas somewhere:
Kinkos

I just phoned in to Sporting News.com on AM radio and chimed in on China. They were talking about whether or not the IOC should choose Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. I was listening to the radio show as I drove a storm-tossed highway between Calgary and Banff. The lightning was scaring me to death but I was trying to make it to Banff. I finally pulled over where I saw a camping sign and also saw a phone. I called the 800 number and waited about 10 minutes, and then got my 15 minutes, Actually it was 15 seconds. I said: 'Hi I'm in a phone booth in the middle of a bad lightning storm so if the line goes dead, I'm dead. I want to chime in with more anti-China rhetoric. I just finished In Retrospect by Robert McNamara, and people seem to forget that 55,000 American and 3,000,000 Vietnamese died basically because of Communist Chinese aggression and ambition in Southeast Asia.'

It was a good point, and I wanted to say more, but he hung up on me and said, 'Well this is a sports show.'

Anyway, after that I found a campsite, got spooked walking around in the dark, let Ike out, saw a few more huge lightning flashes and went to sleep. I was tired and felt like shit. I need to go jump in a river.

I left Calgary several hours ago, after finding Ike and putting out some fires and starting some more at the Kinkos. I gave a down and out guy and his wife $20 for gas because they were stuck, and he smiled and started singing, so that made me feel good. I'd love to just wander aimlessly and be scraggly and do good deeds and help people. It's rewarding.

I missed the fireworks show because I was telling Sacklunch to pull something that could have got me and Lee both sued, and I also heated up a conflict with Frank Quirarte. He has threatened to go to the District Attorney over my 'harassing' e-mails, but he probably isn't bright enough to know he is in way over his head.

Katharine Clark sent me an e-mail about it, and this was my response.

In < a message dated 7/13/2001 9:10:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time, maverick@coastside.net writes:

Hi Ben, its Katherine......Jeff is still in the hospital.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEFF? BACK? I DIDNT HEAR. TELL HIM GET WELL SOON.

He's doing pretty well, but its going to be a long haul for his recovery.

MUST BE HIS BACK. OR DID HE TRY TO WRASSLE A WHITE SHARK?

I WATCHED MY KITTYCAT SQUARE OFF WITH A BADGER THE OTHER DAY. I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM., BUT IT WAS A GOOD THING I CAME ALONG WHEN I DID. KITTYCAT WOULD HAVE LOST.

Whats going on with Officer Avila?
I DONT KNOW. I THINK FRANK IS BLUFFING, BUT WHO KNOWS. I'M PUSHING THIS THING INTO COURT, I THINK. MY LAWYER IS ALL OVER THIS AND WE'VE ALREADY WON, ACCORDING OT HIM.

MY "HARASSMENT" SUCH AS IT IS, IS ONLY IN RESPONSE TO AGGROVILLE AND I'VE MADE THAT CLEAR IN EVERY E-MAIL. ALL I WANT HIM TO DO IS KNOCK IT OFF. IF HE DOESNT, I'M GOING TO HIT HIM WITH EVERY THING IN THE NASTY BOOK.

I EVEN BROUGHT UP THE SUICIDAL BROTHER YESTERDAY. THEY CALL THAT GOING TO THE MATTRESSES I THINK. I DONT CARE. HE STARTED IT. HE'S WRONG. I'M GOINGTO FINISH IT.

I DONT KNOW IF FRANK IS SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE THAT HARASSMENT IS ONLY A CRIMINAL THING. I COULD GET FINED OR GO TO JAIL, MAYBE. MOST LIKELY THEY'LL TELL US TO CEASE FIRE AND FIGHT OUR OWN BATTLES AND STOP WASTING THEIR TIME.

FRANK IS A WHINER.

BUT LIBEL IS A TORT. IT GETS INTO BUSINESS AND MONEY AND ALL KINDS OF NASTINESS, AND THAT'S WHEN THE GOOD LAWYERS GET INTERESTED.

tort An injury to one person for which the person who caused the injury is legally responsible. A tort can be intentional -- for example, an angry punch in the nose -- but is far more likely to result from carelessness (called "negligence"), such as riding your bicycle on the sidewalk and colliding with a pedestrian. While the injury that forms the basis of a tort is usually physical, this is not a requirement -- libel, slander and the "intentional infliction of mental distress" are on a good-sized list of torts not based on a physical injury.

See Topic: Lawsuits & Mediation Criminal Law

tortious interference The causing of harm by disrupting something that belongs to someone else -- for example, interfering with a contractual relationship so that one party fails to deliver goods on time.
See Topic: Lawsuits & Mediation Criminal Law

libel An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person's reputation or standing in the community. Because libel is a tort (a civil wrong), the injured person can bring a lawsuit against the person who made the false statement. Libel is a form of defamation , as is slander (an untruthful statement that is spoken, but not published in writing or broadcast through the media).
See Topic: Lawsuits & Mediation

FRANK IS PROFOUNDLY GUILTY OF BOTH LIBEL AND TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE. HE TRIED TO INTERFERE WITH JEFF CLARK'S RELATIONSHIP WITH QUIKSILVER AND HE USED HIS WEBSITE TO DEFAME HIM.

HE'S AS GUILTY AS O.J. AND HE BETTER WAKE UP AND REALIZE THIS, OR HE IS GOING TO GO TO COURT, PAY A LOT OF MONEY FOR LAWYERS AND LOSE. MAYBE LOSE HIS HOUSE, HIS CAR, HIS COMPUTERS, HIS STINKPOT, WHATEVER HE HAS.

HE'S ALREADY LOST. I HAVE DOZENS OF LIBELOUS POSTS FROM HIS WEBSITE, BUT WITH ME IT'S JUST NASTY. WITH YOU AND JEFF, AND WITH CURT AND ERIC-SLAMMING THEIR VIDEO-IT'S BUSINESS. AND YOU HAVE HUNDREDS OF NASTY POSTS GOING BACK FOR YEARS. WHETHER OR NOT FRANK POSTED THEM, AND I'M SURE HE DID, HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR EDITING THE WEBSITE, SO HE IS RESPONSIBLE.

AND IN LIBEL, WHEN BUSINESS IS INVOLVED, "DAMAGES ARE ASSUMED." THAT MEANS YOU DON'T HAVE TO PROVE EXACTLY HOW MUCH HE COST YOU, ONLY THAT HE MEANT TO INTERFERE WITH A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP, AND THAT HE MEANT TO PROFIT BY IT.

FRANK IS IN WAY WAY WAY OVER HIS HEAD. MY GUY IN SAN FRANCISCO, JAY DAGGET, IS ITCHING TO TAKE THIS ONE TO COURT. HE MIGHT NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM IT, BUT HE MIGHT GET TO MAKE SOME CASE LAW.

MR. DAGGET HAS ALL THE MONEY HE'LL EVER NEED FROM LITIGATING THE BOOM OF THE PAST FEW YEARS.. HE'S A CASE LAW NERD AND HE WANTS TO GET HIS NAME IMMORTALIZED.

FRANKI DONT THINK IS SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE WHAT IS GOING ON. HE'S DEALING WITH THE PACIFICA PD. I'M DEALING WITH ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS LAWYERS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

I'd really like to know which direction this has gone so that I can prepare for ourselves.

JUST HAVE ALL OF THE AGGROVILLE POSTS SAVED UP, AND A FAIR BIT OF INFORMATION ABOUT FRANK'S MEDDLING IN THE QUIKSILVER DEAL. I'LL SEND YOU THE E-MAIL OF MR. DEADLY DAGGET, AND WE'LL BE READY WITH THE POTS OF BOILING OIL IF DINGALING CHARGES THE GATE.

It just never ends with that whole Aggroville virus. Its so toxic.

IT'S GOING TO END, AND ALL THE POISON IS GOING DOWN FRANKIE'S THROAT..

Anyway, fill me in would you......thanks KKC

I'LL SEND YOU ALL THE OTHER RELATED POSTS.

AGAIN, WHAT HAPPENED WITH JEFF?

I do have a lawyer friend in San Francisco who is swimming around this one like a Great White Shark and I am more than willing to go to court. With Jeff and Katharine in on it, it's a slam dunk.

Anyway, I spent too much time and money in Kinkos, spent more time and money driving around trying to find the phone number of a certain dingaling who put something online that he shouldn't have, and put us both in danger of libel (see above).

But that all got solved and Ike showed up and it was time to get out of Dodge. Unfortunately, I missed the fireworks show so we drove out of town, getting as confused going out as I was going in I had directions to get on TransCanada Highway One, but that took a while. There was a fire and brimstone thunder and lightning storm going on on one horizon, and I was hoping I wasn't heading that way. After heading way from it going east on TransCanada Highway One, I had to turn around and head straight on it on Transcanada Highway One.

Straight into it: Rain, wind and lightning bolts jagging down who knew how close. I was thinking about that passenger jet getting bolted and I wondered if cars ever got nailed. The Gods were Pissed, and it was scaring me but good.

A few of them made me jump and swerve, and one of the hit just when two deer ran across the road. I came that fricking close to nailing one big buck, and thank Pirelli for the Scorpions, they held. (Thanks Dan)

I stopped at a truck stop to let it blow over, bought some gas, joked with a trucker and pushed on. Radio is as good a company as Ike. I listened to Sports Radio and they were talking about the I.O.C. decision for the 2008 Olympics that was a few hours' away. Toronto was in a dead head with Beijing and the announcer on SportingNews was more than a little biased. I was bored and wanted to chime in and maybe change the subject to baseball, but there were no rest stops or phones.

At around 2:00 I did find a phone and a campsite, made the call, made no sense, and went to bed.

11:17 MT FRIDAY THE 13^TH AN INTERNET CAFÉ IN BANFF

ODOMETER

TRIP METER

MONEY

Gas last night.
Water in cyber café: C$ 1.50

Pizza near Stampede Grounds       C$ 5.0
Campsite                                         C$15.0
Money for stuck guy                         C$20.00
Cash remaining:                              C$50.00

I'm listening to House Music in an internet café in Banff, which is like 'Sun Valley on steroids,' to steal a lame cliché. There is a beautiful Canadian Pacific hotel in Banff and some spectacular mountains all around and a very nice river running through it. But too many tourists and too much traffic and I just want to do this and get going 'sur la route.'

Checked e-mail and had a few goodies. Bruce Jenkins answered my nerdy thing about Japanese baseball, and I responded to him.

Also got some exchanges about this deal with Frank Quirarte. This was Katharine's e-mail, with my responses in all bold.

I'm right about all this, I think, and it's fine to be able to push these things to a conclusion from the road, without wasting time.

Time to get out of here, stop wasting money and head for Kamloops. Going fishing. I apologize for getting all Thoreau on you, but: Nature has integrity, people sometimes do not. House Music has no integrity

I prefer nature, and Ike. He's a good cat and he wants to get going. Ike has integrity.

I'm going to head for the mountains and this Dano Pendygrasse guy, a friend of Jeff's. I want to hide out in a nice, secluded place where I can bathe in river and eat well. Do some reading and some writing and organizing, and let Ike roam free.

Could be worse.

Oh, also. While I was driving from Montana to Canada, someone called my mom and said they had found my boots. I hadn't warned her about it, so she didn't know what to say and didn't take the return number. Shit. Star 69 didn't work. Crap. I called Mary at Mike's Conoco and told her to put 'Please call again,' on the sign. Damn. I liked those boots, they had integrity. They had soul. Oh well. My fault.

MONEY

CASH Cashed US$110 for C$166

MONEY

ODOMETER

TRIP METER

MONEY

CASH
Cashed US$110 for C$166