This whole week has been one of staying in my hole. Besides, we haven't been downtown to a political rally since before my friend died. I thought it was time to go to a "Dump Davis" rally.

This was planned by the FReePers, and it was to feature a number of characters and events. A number of people came up from Fresno, but the local attendance was quite disappointing. I think at the most, 50 people were there at any one time. We parked a block or so away and walked to the Capitol. When we saw how small it was, we walked on past and looked at the new Firefighters Memorial. We also counted squirrels around this small child with peanuts. Then we went back.

There was a dumptruck with "Dump Davis" signs. I especially liked the three-eyed fish from the Dioxin bribe contribution. The "Gray Hooker" was there, though it was apparent his high heels were hurting his feet. The Debate Chicken came. There was a cash register with hands sticking out underneath, lots of hands, all grabbing money. On the back of this was a sign, "You ain't got a witness. You can't prove it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" (I say on this "pay-for-play" stuff, which the staff always dismisses as "coincidence," that once may be coincidence, twice might be terrible luck, but fifty or more times is a definite pattern!) [Pictures by Dave Jenest] Three pro-Davis people showed up, but they left after about an hour.

We were led in chants:

Hey Hey Governor Gray How many fish have you killed today?	Corrupt. Dishonest. Fire Davis Now!
Somebody save us From Gray Davis	Help the Children Help the Poor Gray Davis Out the door!

We picked up a yard sign, Simon for Governor, and for the first time in our history we have one up. I also put a "Dump Davis" bumper sticker on our palm tree. The third thing, a sign, I don't know where to put. Maybe in Vince's window.

After we left, we walked over to a drugstore where I got (soon-to-be-late) birthday cards for my daughters. You look down the Mall away from the Capitol, and there seems to be this huge new building down there. What it is, is the up, draped, currently out-of-commission drawbridge, which is being painted gold.

Then tonight we were total social butterflies and went to a St. Vincent de Paul fundraiser at the Cathedral. They said "light food" but they had some really good stuff there. A priest gave us a tour of the Cathedral, before they close it up to restore it. He's a real enthusiast, which made the tour interesting. In 1889, the Jewish community gave $175 for the Cathedral, and David Lubin was a major donor. When it was built, there were 8 to 10 thousand Catholics in the diocese, which extended to mid-Nevada. The Bishop of San Francisco didn't want to lose Sacramento, so he bargained with Bishop Manogue to assure that Sacramento also got the outlying areas of Angel's Camp and Tualomne county.

Manogue and his family had emigrated to Chicago and in the 1850s he entered the seminary, then instead came west to be a quartz miner. Bishop Allemany sent him in 1858 to Paris where he was in the seminary from 1858-1862. They were rebuilding the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris (after the unrest covered in Les Mizerables). This church was the inspiration for the Cathedral, which is the biggest in the West.

As it was being built it "looked like a big whale." The windows were donated by margaret Crocker, who got them in Austria. The Stations of the Cross are from the early 20th Century. Fr. Quinn in 1902 put a Seth Thomas clock in the dome, which is now in SAMCC (the Sacramento attic.) There were renovations in the early 1900s, and a major one in 1939, which is when they covered the dome. This is one of the projects for this restoration, to bring the dome back. The cross was added then. The high altar disappeared in the 1970 renovation. The side altars are in a PG&E storage facility. (Don't ask me. If these stones could only talk!) The old communion rail was removed 1970, and is in front of the shrines on the sides. These are the original pews, and they used to charge pew rent. (It was funny, then, to see that one of the auction prizes was the front pew for Midnight Mass. No one knows when the 12 apostles, painted between the windows, appeared.

Thomas Grace was the first Bishop consecrated here, the 2nd Bishop of Sacramento. (It's interesting hearing all these high schools' names being mentioned! The third Bish was Bishop Armstrong!) The high windows came from Teresa Fair, the divorced wife of Mr. Fairmont hotel. James W. McKay and James Fair were in Virginia City, and got rich. Mr. Fair's wealth went to his head, and Manogue testified on Teresa's side in divorce court. She spent $25,000 on the Bishop's house, which was behind the Cathedral. There's a copy of a Raphael painting from Jane Stanford. David Lubin gave one of St. Michael defeating the Devil. Lubin died in Rome in 1919, interested in World Hunger (he was one of the founders of what has since become the World Food Bank.)

In 1970 they dug the rose window out, since in 1939 (what were they THINKING??) there'd been a second balcony built and the organ put in front of it. The central window is by August Coulotte and is of the Last Supper. Thomas Dwyer (these are all important Sacramento names) was also a donor.

Another thing that has happened is that the Beatitudes, which were painted around the eight-sided dome base, were painted out. The bells were rung for the last time on VJ day.

Then we went down and did some bidding on the auction baskets. Whoever put them together did a fantastic job. I showed a little interest in the brunches, but mostly I wanted a Hallowe'en basket, since I liked the tub it was packed in. I finally gave up on it, but when we left we were the top bidders on a Rivercats basket (which I wanted mostly for the celebrity rubber duckie of Bob Gergen.)

ObGoe: NRA sticker on car.

A BAD flying experience. Note to self, stay off America West.

Governmentium (Oldie but Goodie)