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Politics Blog

Congressman goes to prison in drag

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Whoa, this is special.

According to a story in the Pasadena Weekly, Rep. Dana Rhorabacher — a nutcase if there ever were one — has decided that Sirhan Sirhan was part of an “arab conspiracy” to kill RFK — and dressed in drag to secretly interview the admitted assassin in prison.

The fun thing about this is that there’s a large and active Sirhan-Shirhan conspiracy underground out there, folks who attempt to linke the RFK killing to the JRK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations, the CIA, the Bay of Pigs, Israel, the Mob and many more shadowy characters.

And now we have Dana as Diana digging into this lovely mess. What a great country.

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Even Palin wants us to leave McCain

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Gov.Sarah Palin gave the Democrats a great slogan, when she said “John McCain is the man we need to leave…I mean lead,” during tonight’s one and only vice-presidential debate. Classic.

Senate seeks to “orphan” more art

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By Katie Baker

Thousands of visual artists wrote to Congress after the Senate passed the Orphan Works Bill (S.2913) on Sept. 27, urging their House representatives not to follow suit. As of now they haven’t, but the arts community is worried that the House will pass quietly behind the enormous economic issues currently distressing the country.

“Passing controversial legislation by this process, i.e. under the radar, is deeply troubling to say the least,” the Advertising Photographers of America wrote in an email alert last week. “Every Senator needs to be held accountable.”

The bill would deem “orphaned” any copyrighted work whose author can’t be located by a “reasonably diligent search.” Artists fear that vague standard could allow individuals and corporations to steals artwork for any personal or commercial purpose after going through the motions of search. The artwork could then to deemed part of the public domain, preventing creators from claiming ownership and compensation for their work.

Air District fined Lennar half a million dollars last month

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by Sarah Phelan

In a surprise revelation, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District mentioned yesterday that it had reached a $515,000 settlement with Lennar over the developer’s failure to monitor and control asbestos dust at Hunters Point Shipyard.

BAAQMD executive director Jack Broadment brought up the settlement, which was dated August 8 and allegedly finalized in early September, during the air district’s October 1 board meeting.

Broadbent’s stunning revelation occured after Bay View Hunters Point residents asked the air district to address their concerns around Lennar’s repeated asbestos dust violations in their community.

Broadbent’s annoucement shocked the BVHP residents, who had showed up at the meeting. They countered that the amount was too little and too late.

An October 2 Air District press release claims the settlement is the “largest of its kind in California.”

“Our Air District team negotiated an appropriate penalty based on the circumstances of the case,” Broadbent stated in the press release. “This settlement will deter the kind of conduct Lennar engaged in that led to these violations.”

Air District spokesperson Lisa Fasano told the Guardian that the $515,000 fine is “the biggest fine for a dust violation in the Bay Area air district.”

Fasano said that the biggest penalty that the district has imposed in recent years was the $2.8 million fine against Shell for exceeding emissions limits at its Martinez facility.

Asked how the Air District arrived at the $515,000 figure Fasano said it was a “negogiated number.”

“There were three basic violations involved,” Fasano told the Guardian. “Failing to maintain air monitoring systems appropriately; failing to maintain wash stations properly and failing to contain properly what they were receiving from those wash stations.”

Lennar was supposed to monitor asbestos dust at the site and make sure that vehicles leaving the site were washed down properly, so that the dust wouldn’t get tracked out.

The developer entered into a detailed asbestos dust mitigation plan with the Air District in 2005 and made power point presentations in the community to reassure residents that they would be protected from naturally occurring asbestos, a known carcinogen, while Lennar graded an entire hillside to build a 1,600-unit condominium complex.

But though monitoring was supposed to begin in July 2005, Lennar’s negligence means there is no evidence of what the asbestos dust levels at the site were until September 2006. That was three months after intense grading began directly adjacent to a local k-12 school, where children played and studied, with only a chain link fence separating them from Lennar’s machinery.

Fasana said the Air District and Lennar negotiated the penalty based on the type, duration and negligence of the violations.

Fasano told us that the settlement was completed by the end of August, but had not been mentioned before, because there had not been a Board meeting since the settlement was made. The Board’s last meeting was July 30.

“The matter came up because folks from Bay View Hunters Point brought it up during public comment, ” Fasano said. “It was going to be mentioned in the Executive director’s report to the Board.”

Fundraiser tonight for local foods program

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by Amanda Witherell

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For anyone looking to squeeze in a little extra fun before taking in the Biden-Palin throwdown, Bay Area Community Services is hosting a fundraiser in Oakland tonight. We profiled the amazing work this group is doing bringing local, fresh meals to seniors and disabled people through its Meals on Wheels program. In order to stop serving frozen food and start serving fresh, BACS partnered with Community Alliance with Family Farmers to connect with local growers who could supply bulk amounts of fruits and vegetables. They also established a free culinary training program for low-income adults who learn kitchen prep skills in exchange for cheffing up the homemade meals served through the Meals on Wheels program. Contrary to popular notions that eating fresh, organic food costs a lot more, BACS found the program cost per meal has only gone up five cents, but donations have increased by $20,000 because people see more worth in the fresher food they’re now receiving.

But it’s not enough and tonight they’re holding a fundraiser, capping off their “Seeds to Harvest” campaign to expand their facilities and the culinary program.

“Seeds to Harvest is the cornerstone of our effort to make BACS a leading ‘farm-to-table,’ self-sufficient food security organization,” said executive director Kent Ellsworth in a press release about the event. “The fact that we are so close to reaching our $100,000 goal shows that the sustainable food movement has reached critical mass. A few years ago no one expected us to be part of the slow food, sustainable food revolution at all, let alone be at its leading edge!”

Tonight, Oct. 2 at 5 pm, you can join them for locally produced snacks and goodies at the East Bay Community Foundation Conference Center, 365 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA. There will also be graduates from the culinary training program on hand to discuss their experiences.

Veep vs. Veep: What NOT to look for tonight

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Sick of the endless hype-y analysis of tonight’s VP debate preparations — the “expectations bar” being spun like a top by all sides? Here’s some things we figure we probably won’t see, although maybe we secretly wish we would.

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** Washington University evacuated due to Biden’s overuse of Old Spice

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** Palin packs attention-deflecting bomb in up-do, like Deborah Harry’s in Hairspray. Bonus: goes off too early

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GGRA members accused of hypocrisy

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News that GGRA has decided to file an en banc appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling upholding the City’s Healthcare Security Ordinance got supporters of the City’s ordinance expressing dismay and puzzlement.

They also declared themselves troubled by what they call the apparent hypocrisy of GGRA members who express their support for the ordinance in surcharge notices.

Tim Paulson, San Francisco Labor Council executive director, believes that the City’s healthcare ordinance creates a level playing field for employers.

“It gives credit to employers who already offer healthcare to their employees and also allows other employers to comply without disrupting ERISA plans,” Paulson said. “The Healthcare Ordinance is sound business policy as well as a win for San Franciscans.”

Calling the Ninth Circuit’s September 30 decision to uphold the City’s ordinance, “a huge win for hard-working men and women in San Francisco who are currently without access to healthcare,” Paulson said, “We need more healthcare in San Francisco, not less.”

Paulsen said he was “particularly troubled by the apparent hypocrisy of GGRA member restaurants for expressing public support and admiration for a program that provides health and well-being to thousands of restaurant workers, while their GGRA membership dues pay the legal fees to dismantle it.”

Paulson was referring to the fact that some GGRA member restaurants have issued surcharge notices that contain comments that appear to be supportive of SF’s healthcare program, while GGRA seeks to overturn the ordinance.

IGGRA members Catch, Pomodoro, AsiaSF, Bar Bambino and Luna Park have issued notices in which they express support for the ordinance and explain that they are adding a surcharge to each check to cover these new healthcare related costs. The notices do not mention GGRA’s lawsuit.

Schwarzenegger snubs Harvey Milk

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by Amanda Witherell

hm.jpg Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have designated May 22 as Harvey Milk day. The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Mark Leno, would have required the governor to annually recognize the day and would have encouraged “all public schools and educational institutions to observe this day and to conduct exercises remembering and recognizing the life of Harvey Milk, his accomplishments, and the contributions he made to this state.”

According to the legislative analysis, the bill had no fiscal cost.

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said, “I believe his contributions should continue to be recognized at the local level by those who were most impacted by his contributions.”

Yeah, but we already get it — the whole point is to educate more people about his impact, and the guy’s about to go silver screen. If anyone out there doesn’t know who Harvey Milk is now, they will when they see Sean Penn playing him in “Milk,” the Gus Van Sant film that hits national screens in December — which makes it seem entirely appropriate that California might go on the record officially recognizing the great man.

In his legislative comments on the bill, Leno said, “Perhaps more than any other modern figure, Harvey Milk’s life and political career embody the rise of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights movement.” Milk was assassinated in 1978, while serving as supervisor in San Francisco. He was the first openly gay elected official to hold office in a major US city.

“Harvey Milk is a hero who stood for simple equality and justice, and ultimately gave his life for these principles,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a press release about the veto. “It would have been fitting to officially recognize his birthday as a day of special significance in California. However, as everyone who admires Harvey Milk fully understands, we can pay this great man lasting tribute by working to make equality a reality for all Californians.”

Rev. Billy blesses Prop. H

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By Steven T. Jones

Rev. Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping is rolling its anti-consumerist revival through California and including a stop tonight in San Francisco, where he’ll bless Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act. Doors at the Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez St. at 24th Street, open at 7:15 and the show begins at 8. Rev. Billy is a performance artist who honed his unique political theater in the Burning Man culture and has strong ties to San Francisco, although he’s based in New York City, the citadel of late capitalism.

He’ll be introduced by arts impresario Chicken John, who is battling with the Ethics Commission over that body’s efforts to audit the spending by his mayoral campaign. Chicken now says that he’s decided to go ahead and let Ethics officials have his records, but that he plans to do so by wheat-pasting them onto an art project that he’ll unveil during an Oct. 9 event at CELLspace.

There’s never a dull moment in San Francisco’s politically active counterculture.

Newsom reacts to Yes on 8 ad

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You Tube has already posted this parody of the Yes on 8 ad that features Newsom

By Saadia Malik

Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday commented on the television ad urging California voters to approve Proposition 8 and reinstate the unconstitutional ban on same sex marriage, telling a small crowd of reporters, “The commercial was weak.”

The ad uses footage of Newsom’s May 15 speech to the jubilant City Hall rally that followed the California Supreme Court ruling that the ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional. The ad claims that decision could trigger litigation against individuals’ personal beliefs, a move to revoke the churches’ tax-exempt status, and a push to teach children about same-sex marriage in public schools.

“Whether you like it or not,” is the Newsom statement that the Yes on 8 campaign turns into a mantra, associating it with their doomsday predictions about what same sex marriage will bring. At the end of the 30-second ad, the narrator declares, “We don’t have to accept this.”

Newsom sneered when asked about the commercial during an outside press conference at Justin Herman Plaza, saying “I’m not surprised they took comments completely out of context.”

“California will say no to Prop 8,” Newsom said confidently. “This is not a big issue anymore, from my perspective.”

Will SF’s healthcare ordinance go to Supreme Court?

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The Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance got everyone wondering if the Golden Gate Restaurant Association will take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court.

GGRA’s executive director Kevin Westly told me they might, or they might ask the Ninth Circuit to do an en banque review, instead, which involves all eleven Ninth Circuit judges.

“Healthy San Francisco is a good program and employer spending mandates are a separate issue,” Westly said, repeating a position that Mayor Gavin Newsom used to share, back when Sup. Tom Ammiano, who authored this trailbreaking legislation, was trying to explain that it’s not fiscally possible to provide uninsured residents with free access to the City’s health clinics without the employer mandate , since the mandate generates the funding for the free access program.

Newsom eventually climbed on board, ( “kicking and screaming” as Ammiano recently recalled), but GGRA continues to hold that the mandate is a major fiscal and administrative burden that employers shouldn’t bear. GGRA makes that argument based on their interpretation of Congress’s intent in 1974, when it passed ERISA.

Bailout economics 101

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Dennis Kucinch, who voted against the bailout, has a remarkable basic lesson on how the bailout would have worked. In a letter to his supporters, he writes:

Here is a very quick explanation of the $700 billion bailout within the context of the mechanics of our monetary and banking system:

The taxpayers loan money to the banks. But the taxpayers do not have the money. So we have to borrow it from the banks to give it back to the banks. But the banks do not have the money to loan to the government. So they create it into existence (through a mechanism called fractional reserve) and then loan it to us, at interest, so we can then give it back to them.

Confused?

This is the system. This is the standard mechanism used to expand the money supply on a daily basis not a special one designed only for the “$700 billion” transaction. People will explain this to you in many different ways, but this is what it comes down to.

The banks needed Congress’ approval. Of course in this topsy turvy world, it is the banks which set the terms of the money they are borrowing from the taxpayers. And what do we get for this transaction? Long term debt enslavement of our country. We get to pay back to the banks trillions of dollars ($700 billion with compounded interest) and the banks give us their bad debt which they cull from everywhere in the world.

Who could turn down a deal like this? I did.

Actually, Kucinich is pretty close. The point he misses is that much of the money won’t be borrowed from banks but from other countries, primarily China, that have a surplus of cash and want to invest in the U.S. But the sentiment is right.

Report blasts Newsom’s top crime advisor

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By Steven T. Jones

Former U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan — who now heads Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Criminal Justice and has steered the mayor toward more conservative positions on issues ranging from police accountability to the city’s sanctuary policy and plan to issue resident identification cards — was the subject of scathing criticism in a new Justice Department report that examined the Bush Administration’s controversial firing of several U.S. attorneys.

Unlike other attorneys who were fired for political reasons, Ryan was a Bush loyalist and self-described Republican “company man” fired for being “retaliatory, explosive, noncommunicative, and paranoid,” the report said. That was no surprise to us at the Guardian, who have written critically about Ryan before and fail to understand why Newsom hired him, particularly given what an incompetent toadie for a discredited administration he was.

Everyone but Newsom and those in his bunker seem to understand how disgraceful it is for San Francisco to be harboring a right-wing political fugitive like Ryan, let alone giving him a position of great influence. Newsom flak Nate Ballard amazingly told the Chronicle Ryan was “a man of unimpeachable integrity,” all evidence to the contrary.

“What is Nathan Ballard thinking, saying he’s a man of integrity and everything. Well, Hitler could paint,” Sup. Tom Ammiano, who has had to wrestle with Newsom’s Ryan-inspired policy flips on issues important to the Mission District, told us. Yet Ammiano noted that both the Chronicle and even the more conservative Examiner are highlighting the report blasting Ryan as the one U.S. attorney who deserved to be fired.

“In the long run, hopefully dissatisfaction with Ryan will grow,” Ammiano said. “He could become a liability for [Newsom], and only then Newsom fire him because that’s how he operates.”

9th Circuit OKs City’s Healthcare Access Plan

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has decided in favor of the city’s healthcare access ordinance.
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which was the group that filed suit against San Francisco over the City’s trailblazing plan, could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, a move that would cost beaucoup bucks all round.
Here’s my favorite part of this recent ruling, written in delicious legalese:

“There may be better ways to provide healthcare that to require employers in the City of San Francisco to foot the bill. But our task is a narrow one and it is beyond our province to evaluate the wisdon ofthe Ordinance before us. We are asked only to decide whether Section 514 (a) of ERISA preempts the employer spending requirement of the Ordinance. We hold that it does not. The spending requirements do not establish an ERISA plan; nor do they have an impermissible connection with employers’ ERISA plan,or make an impermissible reference to such plan. We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court and remand with instructions to enter summary judgement in favor of the City and Intervenors.”

Pelosi’s failed speech

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By Steven T. Jones

I’m not putting too much stock in Republicans blaming the failure of the bailout bill on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s floor speech today. “Somebody hurt my feelings; I’m going to punish the country,” was how Rep. Barney Frank correctly sized up that excuse.

But watch the speech and you’ll see how Pelosi blew an opportunity to help pass a bill she supports (although it was hard to tell from her speech that she supports it). Between her ill-timed partisan broadside and her repeated emphasis on the “Seven…hundred…billion…dollar” bailout package (even though, as the Post notes, the government is likely to recoup much of that outlay), this wasn’t a speech that was going to win anybody over.

Bottom line: there are many different ways to deal with this financial crisis, but if you’ve concluded that this bill is the way to go, Madame Speaker, it’s your job to sell it. Otherwise, we’re all in for a helluva ride.

The other bailout bill

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With all the sound and fury around the failure of the Bush bailout bill and the stock market collapse, I see very little talk of the alternatives that are out there.

For example, two Bay Area representatives, Barbara Lee of Oakland and Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma, have their own bailout bill, supported by the Progressive Caucus. There’s a good discussion of it at Calitics. The Lee-Woolsey bill includes a transaction tax on risky financial instruments and mortgage reform.

I wonder if the House will take that up next.

You never call, you never write …

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… so maybe you should visit your grandparents in Florida. Would it kill you to give Nana some quality time? And maybe convince her to vote for Obama in the next election while you’re there? Get on board with thegreatschelp.com and make sure we don’t all end up sitting alone in the (metaphorical, Republican) dark for the next four years.


The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Obama v. McCain: How much will you pay in taxes?

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Barack Obama says 95% of Americans will get a tax cut if he’s elected. McCain says … well, whatever he’s saying that day or week. But what does it all mean for you? Under a McCain or Obama regime, how much of your hard-earned booty will the IRS demand for such indispensable national priorities as, say, endless wars of choice and making sure Wall Street billionaires don’t have to sell their second ski lodges? Now you can find out at this handy new website.

I entered a few different incomes into the calculator, starting low and adding a couple-ten thousand each time. And, if this magical contraption of the netwebs and intertubes is to be believed, it does appear that Obama’s tax plan will save people making under $125,000 a few hundred bucks a year. Note: I did not enter deductions, investments, assets, etc. – just straight income.

The Right Palin

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Get your Friday funnies on with Monty Python’s Michael Palin clip about why McCain chose the wrong Palin.

SEIU – Why it matters

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September 26 and 27 should be eventful days at the San Mateo County Event Center. A place there called Fiesta Hall will probably be very loud, but not be very festive. Thousands of United Healthcare Workers (UHW) union members plan to protest hearings on whether to remove their leadership for allegedly misappropriating dues money.

People not involved with or knowledgeable of union activity might not think this is a big deal, but trust me – it is.

As I’ve reported here, here, and here – UHW’s leader Sal Rosselli has been feuding with Andy Stern, head of UHW’s parent union, the Service Employees International Union, over what he calls Stern’s undemocratic regime. If Barack Obama is elected, he will definitely owe Andy Stern and SEIU a major debt. SEIU is putting almost $90 million into Obama’s White House run. And if Stern is as autocratic as Rosselli and his supporters claim, the future of a Democratic majority in Washington might not be as progressive as many liberals hope – especially when it comes to lifting workers out of poverty by organizing them into unions like SEIU.

Rosselli says Stern suppresses dissent, sells out his members, and makes secret deals with corporate America. That kind of behavior in one of the Democrats’ biggest benefactors won’t help Obama bring the kind of “change we deserve.” On the other hand, if unions like UHW illegally divert millions of dollars of their members’ money into shadowy slush funds – as Stern and SEIU have charged — that won’t exactly help rejuvenate the left either.

Bottom line, even though a small percentage of workers are unionized these days, what goes on in San Mateo this weekend could have an big effect on the country’s political landscape. Stay tuned.

PS: UHW sources called me this morning and said Stern had barred observers from the federal labor department from attending the hearing. They pointed to a letter, dated yesterday, from labor department officials that appeared to confirm this. However, I just got off the phone with the person at the department to whom the letter was sent. He said SEIU has changed its mind and decided to allow the officials in if they seek access.

UPDATE: An SEIU spokesperson called this morning and insisted that the international union never actively barred Department of Labor (DOL) officials from the hearings. According to SEIU’s Michelle Ringuette, DOL made an inquiry directly to Ray Marshall, who is conducting the hearings. As soon as SEIU officials found out DOL wanted to attend, Ringuette went on, they agreed to let them in. “DOL is welcome,” she told me.

Also, I made a goof in my “PS” section above. The Department of Labor official I spoke with yesterday, Dennis Eckert at the Office of Labor Management Standards, actually sent the letter to which I linked. (I wrote that he was the addressee. Apologies.)

Time to challenge conservatism

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Wake up, America!!!

By Steven T. Jones

Is John McCain – who has pulled out of Friday’s presidential debate, purportedly to deal with the financial crisis — running scared? He should be, because this could be a moment of truth for conservative populism in the U.S., a time when the fantasies and outright lies behind its self-serving ideology are finally exposed.

Unfortunately, that isn’t happening yet. Sure, there’s lots of resistance to aspects of the Bush Administration’s $700 billion bailout proposal out there. And Barack Obama edges in on a progressive diagnosis with comments such as, “The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.”

But the problem is more fundamental than that, as we at the Guardian are being reminded once again by the fiscal conservatives who have been seeking our endorsements this election season. Even here in socially liberal San Francisco, so-called “moderates” — from Mayor Gavin Newsom to his Board of Supervisors appointees Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd to Chu opponent Ron Dudum and Dist. 1 candidate Sue Lee – still spew well-worn but discredited conservative platitudes celebrating the private sector and demonizing government.

Progressives should push back, call their bluff, and stop being afraid to be accused of fomenting class warfare. Because the rich and powerful have been raiding the public coffers for long enough — waging top-down class warfare — and now is the time for us to fight back.

Bean Bigger than City Hall

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I love how the beans outside City Hall obscure the surrounding buildings, if you get up close and personal.

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The same can be said for corn.

Last chance to comment on Shipyard’s Parcel B

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Wondering what’s going on with the much promised clean up of Hunters Point Shipyard? Read on.

Aerial photographs of the Hunters Point Shipyard of yore (see above) are super cool. But they aren’t much help if you are trying to figure out where Parcel B is, or exactly when comments on the proposed clean up are due.

But here at last is an extremely handy link to a fact sheet on Parcel B of the Hunters Point Shipyard. It not only summarizes the draft amended Record of Decision (ROD) for Parcel B , but it also includes comments submitted by the public, the Navy’s response to those comments, along with the analysis of an independent technical consultant.

Thanks to Kristine Enea, the current chair of the technical subcommittee of the Shipyard’s Restoration Advisory Board, for sending this link. and for reminding us that tomorrow, Thursday, September 25, is the last chance for the public to submit comments on this draft amended Record of Decision.

Send comments to Keith S. Forman, U.S. Navy BRAC Environmental Coordinator,1455 Frazee Road, Suite 900, San Diego, CA 92108-4310. Or fax him at 619-532-0955. Or email him at keith.s.forman@navy.mil

Everybody loves Cake

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By Steven T. Jones

The campaign backing SF’s Prop. H, the Clean Energy Act, was always destined to be hopelessly outspent by Pacific Gas & Electric, which always dumps millions of your ratepayer dollars into fighting initiatives that could cut into the company’s profits.

But thanks to the green streak of the popular band Cake, which is donating all of the proceeds from its Oct. 10 gig at the Independent to the Yes on H effort, the campaign just pocketed about 30 grand when the show sold out in the first hour tickets were on sale today.

The band, which just converted its Sacramento studio to solar energy, announced its pride in supporting a measure that would increase the renewable energy supply powering San Francisco. “Although there is little hope for the future of humans on the earth, this proposition adds mightily to our paltry supply [of renewable energy],” Cake’s lead vocalist, John McCrea, said in a statement put out by the campaign.

BTW, here’s a tip for Guardian readers: while the $50 regular tickets sold out, you can still buy VIP tickets (which includes the show and a pre-show meet-and-greet with the band at the Alamo Square home of Jim Siegel) here if you hurry.

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