SFBG Blogs

Newsom’s delay tactic would create a legal mess

Sasha Cuttler
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22
Newsom’s delay tactic would create a legal mess

In this week’s Guardian, I lay out the latest political dynamics surrounding who will become San Francisco’s next mayor. But in reporting out that story, I stumbled across some interesting potential implications to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s petulant promise to delay his swearing in as lieutenant governor.

There is little precedent and scant caselaw on the legality of Newsom’s gambit, as most lawyers and political observers have said, so Newsom would be taking the city and state into uncharted territory just the deny his nemesis, Sup. Chris Daly, a chance to vote on the successor mayor. And it could backfire on Newsom.

For example, what if the excitement of returning to the governor’s office gives Jerry Brown, 72, a fatal heart attack after he and the rest of the state constitutional officers (except Newsom) are sworn in on Jan. 3? If Newsom had taken the oath of office as he was supposed to, he would realize his dream of becoming governor.

Instead, here’s what California Government Code 12058 says would then happen: “In case of vacancy in the office of Governor and in the office of Lieutenant Governor, the last duly elected President pro Tempore of the Senate shall become Governor for the residue of the term,” so Darrell Steinberg would become governor. Having covered Steinberg when I worked in Sacramento, I think he’d make a far better governor anyway, so this is probably a good outcome.

Here’s another unlikely scenario I like even better: what if Gov. Jerry Brown suddenly remembers all the nasty things that Newsom said about him while running for the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination and declares the lieutenant governor’s office vacant because of Newsom’s no-show at the constitutionally mandated swearing-in ceremony and decides to appoint a grown-up to the office.

Newsom’s stand also carries risks for San Francisco, beyond just the sudden transfer of power that Newsom and moderate supervisors have already created. The City Charter calls for the newly elected Board of Supervisors to be sworn into office at noon on Jan. 8. But, as I’ve learned in interviews with officials in the Clerk the Board of Supervisors Office, there’s a strange quirk in the charter that makes it unclear who the president of the board is between when the new supervisors are sworn in and when they elect a new president, which is their first order of business.

After all, oftentimes the outgoing president isn’t even a supervisor anymore, as was the case two years ago when Aaron Peskin yielded his D3 supervisorial seat to David Chiu. This year, the Clerk’s Office says Chiu will preside over the Jan. 8 meeting for ceremonial reasons until a new president is elected (which could take minutes, hours, or days depending on a nominee’s ability to get six votes).

Now, under normal circumstances, the city would have a duly elected or appointed mayor during that transition period, so it’s not terribly important that there is a gap in who serves as president of the board. Even when the mayor moves on to higher office, as is the case this year, the City Charter calls for the president to serve as acting mayor until the board can appoint an interim mayor.

But because of Newsom’s extralegal meddling in city affairs after his scheduled departure, Chiu doesn’t become acting mayor as he should for those five days. So what happens if Brown has his sudden heart attack at 12:05 pm on Jan. 8 and Newsom, seeing that his stunt may cost him the chance to be governor, rushed to Sacramento to take his oath of office before Brown flatlines?

In that circumstance, the Mayor’s Office would be vacant and so would the board presidency, leaving San Francisco leaderless until the board can come up with six votes each for a new mayor and board president.

Now, is any of this likely? No, but this and lots of other hypothetical possibilities illustrate just how selfish and irresponsible that Newsom and the downtown-based instigators of this drama are being, despite their hypocritical public claims to caring about the city and trying to prevent political games.

But as Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters recently wrote: “It’s impossible to predict how Newsom’s power play will turn out. It’s a stormy beginning for his new career in state politics – but given the irrelevance of his new office, it may also be the high point.”

Snap Sounds: La Plebe

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0
Snap Sounds: La Plebe

LA PLEBE

Brazo en Brazo

(Kool Arrow, 2010)

Don’t be fooled by the melancholy acoustic guitar that opens the new La Plebe album, Brazo en Brazo, for all of a few introductory notes. Just as soon as the ear is lulled into world-music lullaby-land, the horns and drums quickly pop up, until, like a day at the races, the full blaze of La Plebe’s instrumentation blasts through, and they’re off!

A band firmly established as being politically and passionately aligned with the dispossessed and disenfranchised, this new album expands beyond the barrio, to explore the state of plebe on a global scale. Songs such as “Venas Abiertas” (Open Veins) and “Guerra Sucia” (Dirty War) describe the states of oppression that keeps Latin America on unequal economic and political footing while “Opresión” speaks more generally to the human costs of war. If those don’t particularly sound like themes to rock out to, the happy accident of La Plebe is that rocking out is actually what they do best. No dweeby-hipster-peaceniks, these, their tight ska-punk rhythm, scorching horns, and rapid-fire guitar hooks, can make a libertarian’s toes tap as freely as any anarkid’s. It helps to think of their music as a kind of call to arms — it won’t go away, and can’t be ignored.

It helps too, that lines such as “corporations that control/at the multinational level/continue robbing and enslaving/those that are suffering most” (from “Venas Abiertas”) simply sound less didactic in the Spanish that all but two songs of ten are written in. One of the remaining two, “Been Drinkin,’” is a spare acoustic jam mourning a life drowned in liquor and honky-tonk. The other, “Bella Ciao”, is a punk rock rendition of an anti-fascist Italian ballad, a partisan’s final farewell to his “beautiful”. If any language could be more musical and poetic than Spanish, it is surely Italian, and La Plebe’s version is an invigorating, Romany-esque reel. I couldn’t help notice the recycled riff in “Campesino” which appears quite emphatically in Hasta la Muerte’s “Mi Tierra”, but at least it’s a good riff. Maybe it’s a sequel

The caretaker hypocrites

Zelda Bronstein
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0
The caretaker hypocrites

Isn’t it interesting that so many of the people who are demanding a “caretaker” mayor — someone who will accept the appointment but not run again — are politicians who were originally appointed to their jobs, and then ran again?


Dianne Feinstein: Appointed mayor by the supervisors. Ran again, even though she had said she wouldn’t.


Gavin Newsom: Appointed supervisor by Willie Brown. Ran for re-election then for mayor.


Sean Elsebernd: Appointed by Gavin Newsom. Ran for re-election.


Michela Alioto-Pier: Appointed by Gavin Newsom. Ran for re-election.


It is, DCCC Chair Aaron Peskin told me, “more than a bit ironic.”


I have to admit, there’s also something a bit un-democratic about the caretaker idea. What if the supervisors appoint a “caretaker” — and round about July or so, we all realize he or she is doing a great job. Why can’t we, the voters, decide to keep that person in office? And if the person the supes appoint is doing a crappy job, we can vote for somebody else.


I get that someone who isn’t spending the entire interim period running for re-election might have some advantages. But in the end, the “caretaker” is a bit like term limits. Shouldn’t the voters be the ones to decide that?

Chickpeas and kugel: two recipes for a very veggie Christmas

Andrew Lam
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0
Chickpeas and kugel: two recipes for a very veggie Christmas

I started seeing retail sales around town marked “last minute Christmas shopping events” a week and a half ago – who are these freakish people that think two weeks is not enough time to score trinkets for one’s loved ones? 

I hereby present to you two holiday recipes from the hottest new vegan and vegetarian on the market — with the explicit reminder that you have ample time to prepare them before a nice Friday night ‘neath the Christmas tree, clutching bowls of chickpea piccata and vegan kugel, and munching in time to a bangin’ holiday mix. Oh wait, I didn’t get a tree yet either. No matter baby — we got nothing but time.

And our favorite veggie Thanksgiving recipes can make the kitchen scene this weekend too! No one has to know that their stomach’s time continuum is being shifted… 

 

Vegan kugel with broccoli rabe and chanterelles

From Jenn Shagrin’s Veganize This! (Da Capo, 256 pages, $19) 

Hey goy! The Jews know what’s good when it comes to festive comfort food recipes. Kugel’s a big, sweet mess of noodles – perfect for your big, sweet mess of loved ones (or just for you if that’s the extent of your wolf pack).

Serves 6

1 (1-pound) package egg-less noodles

1⁄2 pound broccoli rabe

6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) vegan margarine

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned well

1 (12-ounce) package extra firm tofu

1 cup vegan sour cream

1 1⁄2 cups vegan scrambled eggs (page 27)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of salted water until just al dente, then rinse with cold water and toss with a touch of cooking oil to prevent sticking.

Prepare an ice bath (a large bowl of ice water), and set aside.

Bring a medium-size pot of salted water to a boil, drop in the rabe, and allow to cook for 2 minutes. Drain the rabe, then plunge immediately into the ice bath. Drain well again and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the margarine in a large skillet over medium-high heat, then add the garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds, then add the onion and sauté until almost translucent. Add the rabe and chanterelles and sauté for another 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a food processor, blend the tofu and crème fraîche until mixed well. Don’t overprocess; there should still be tiny pieces of whole tofu visible.

Using a spatula, transfer the sautéed vegetables to a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to chop roughly. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, tofu mixture, and all the rest of the ingredients except for the cooked noodles. Once mixed well, stir in the noodles and transfer to the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is browned and the center is firm.

 

 

Chickpea piccata

From Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Appetite For Reduction (Da Capo, 336 pages, $19.95)

Another great vegan recipe that you only need a half hour to create from start to finish – heads up, procrastinators! Chickpea piccata looks fancy, is a great source of fiber, and the little peas are great at helping you detoxify sulfites (preservatives that are found in a lot of processed food, particularly salad dressings).

Serves 4 

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 scant cup thinly sliced shallots

6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

2 cups vegetable broth

1/3 cup dry white wine

A few pinches of freshly ground black pepper

A generous pinch of dried thyme

1 (16-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup capers with a little brine

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 cups arugula

Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Sauté the shallots and garlic for about 5 minutes, until golden. Add the bread crumbs and toast them by stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. They should turn a few shades darker.

Add the vegetable broth, wine, salt, pepper, and thyme. Turn up the heat, bring the mixture to a rolling boil, and let the sauce reduce by half; it should take about 7 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and capers and let heat through, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and turn off the heat.

If you’re serving the piccata with mashed potatoes, place the arugula in a wide bowl. Place the mashed potatoes on top of the arugula and ladle the piccata over the potatoes. The arugula will wilt and it will be lovely. If you are serving the piccata solo, just pour it right over the arugula.

EDITORIAL: How many suspects did SF cops frame?

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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1

The job of a district attorney is bringing criminals to justice; everybody knows that. But it’s also the job of the city’s top law enforcement agent to make sure the innocent are protected — and that’s a part that many DAs ignore.

There’s considerable evidence that the San Francisco police have framed suspects, set up evidence, and illegally manipulated the legal system to put the wrong people behind bars. Repeatedly. That’s a crisis that requires active intervention from the District Attorney’s Office — and since Kamala Harris is on her way out the door, it has to be a top priority for her successor.

The latest example: Superior Court Judge Marla Miller ruled Dec. 14 that Caramad Conley was denied his constitutional rights and convicted of murder after San Francisco cops allowed a paid witness to lie on the stand.

Miller concluded that homicide inspector Earl Sanders, who later became police chief and is now retired on a nice pension, knew that witness Clifford Polk was lying and made no effort to correct it.

That’s not the first time Sanders has been tied to an improper conviction. John Tennyson and Antoine Goff were sentenced to 25 years to life in 1990 — and spent 13 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. They were convicted after Sanders, and his then-partner Napoleon Hendrix, failed to inform the defense about key evidence.

Tennison and Goff would still be behind bars — except that Tennison’s brother read a Guardian story about the case and put a copy on the windshield of every car in the parking lot where he worked. And some of the people who parked there were lawyers for the top-flight criminal defense firm of Keker & Van Nest LLP.

The lawyers helped Jeff Adachi, then a deputy public defender, convince a federal judge that Tennison and Goff were wrongly convicted, and the two left prison in 2003. The case has now cost the San Francisco taxpayers $7.5 million.

The evidence that may soon free Conley came to light during the Tennison/Goff case — and it looks an awful lot like there’s a pattern here. Sanders and Hendrix (who died of cancer in 2009) worked some 500 homicide cases — and it’s unlikely that these two are isolated instances.

Conley has a shot at leaving prison after 18 years only because lawyers working on another case stumbled on old files, some of them literally buried under debris in a police warehouse. We have to wonder: how many other innocent people are rotting away (at considerable cost to the state) because SF cops helped frame them? And how many killers are still wandering the streets because homicide inspectors and prosecutors took the easy way out and manufactured or suppressed evidence against the first obvious suspect — and sent away the wrong person?

When Harris leaves office next month, a new district attorney will take over responsibility for this mess. It’s not possible, given the limited resources of the department, to go back and review every single case that Sanders and Hendrix worked. But the Conley case involved a key witness who was paid by the cops — that is, an informant getting public money. It’s perfectly legal to pay informants — as long as defense lawyers know that a witness was on the tab at the time of trial. But that didn’t happen in Conley’s case — and there may be many others.

Harris’ successor will have to take on the problems of the crime lab mess and continue to review cases that may be tainted by bad forensic techniques. But he or she needs to assign someone to go back over all of the cases in which Sanders and Hendrix used paid informants and see if any of those convictions need to be reviewed.

In the meantime, Chief George Gascón ought to take the opportunity to review police policies for paying snitches who then take the stand in court. There’s abundant evidence that the current system has serious problems.

Renegade Crafts Fair stuffed our stockings with future gift ideas

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

Martha Stewart would have been awed had she found her way to the Renegade Crafts Fair at the Concourse Exhibition Center this past weekend, 12/18-12/19. The amount of creative crafters packed into one space was overwhelming, and Martha would have found it quite inspiring.

The meandering crowds, diligently finishing up their holiday shopping, had a plethora of cool commodities to pick through, from vintagey Polaroids by Sprout Studio, to a hip stuffed-animal owl by Doris Anne. For those who wanted a truly creative gift, squished in the middle of the isle was The Poetry Store, where you could have Silvi Alcivar write you an impromptu poem for that special someone. There were also items that would have been totally dude-approved, including carefully crafted wooden watches by Mistura, and all-recycled bicycle clocks made by Oakland’s 1 by Liz.

The two cutest vendors at the fair were Ysabella and Anna Patricia Designs flower headbands (whose model was asleep in her stroller, which just added to the cuteness) and Twinkie Chan, who was working on a string of crocheted popcorn when I passed, but was also selling crocheted pizza scarves and cherry earrings.

And finally there were my two favorite vendors: first, Double Parlour‘s totally weird and wonderful dolls that were so expressive it was eerie. And then (boy, I wanted everything from these guys!) the awesome Native American inspired clothing and jewelery by The Local Branch. I especially loved their Hippie Fringe Necklaces, that were so undeniably handmade, making them ever so irresistible.

Ok, people. Christmas is just a few days away. I’ve done the hard part of finding all the awesomeness. Now you just need to buy it!

Nathan Habib keeps it kosher

Andrew Lam
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0

“I’m a really practical person. That limits me from driving out to a club the city and coming back in the morning to take a test.” Nathan Habib’s not living the rock star stand-up comedian life just yet. But that’s not to say that Habib (who will be performing at Kung Pao Kosher Comedy‘s holiday run Thurs/23-Sun/26) isn’t dedicated to making people laugh. He’s been performing for seven years – and he’s 21 years old.

Habib’s standard promotional copy calls him “confidently awkward,” and this is actually how he comes across when I meet with him at Farley’s coffee shop on Potrero Hill. I’m late, of course, and he’s begun to read from the rack of magazines besides him, but he quickly shelves the material to say a very polite hello as I approach.

Habib is from a strong Israeli-Latvian-Italian family with a big social network in Palo Alto. His mom is the lovingly pushy type of mother that approached Kung Pao founder Lisa Geduldig after her son fell in love with New York comedian Greg Rogell’s act that night. “Traditional Jewish mom, telling her I’m a comedian like I’ve been doing it forever or something,” Habib laughs.

Whether Geduldig took the endorsement with a grain or salt or not is questionable, but the fact remains that she listened to mom’s assertion that her 14 year old son was serious about stand up. She put Habib into the lineup of one of her shows before (this week’s run will be Habib’s second with the series), and provided support for the kid as he traversed the world of high school open mics and comedy clubs around the peninsula. “Lisa has been really good to me,” Habib says. Throughout high school, he says, he was known as the “stand up guy,” and didn’t know any one else his own age with the same motivation to grip mics and wax observational on stage. 

The reasonable tenor of conversation with Habib is kind of weird because I tend to think of stand-up comedians as messed-up individuals (in the best sense of the term). But here we have a young man who puts his double major in film and economics at UC Santa Cruz firmly at the top of his list of priorities. He’s got a girlfriend with whom “things are flowing well,” and who doesn’t mind that she makes regular appearances in Habib’s schtick, generally as part of stories highlighting his inability to set romantic scenes for her. He also gets a laugh out of his brothers, who find Habib’s venting about frustrating situations hilarious, and his dear old momma, who drove him all around town in the early days to get him to gigs. “My mom loves it when I make fun of her. I don’t know why – well, I think she likes the attention,” he smiles.

Wholesome as a glass of milk. Although, coming from Gunn High School, a competitive prep incubator in Palo Alto, the choice of stand up comedian as a career is a bit off the beaten path. “All my friends want to be doctors and lawyers, go to grad school or whatever.” But Habib can’t shake the pull of comedy “It’s my identity. Plus, I feel like I’m giving something to society.”

His general feel-good sunniness is appropriate, perhaps, for a Christmas gathering for people that don’t celebrate (or need a break from) Christmas. Kung Pao takes the old cliché of Jews eating at a Chinese restaurant over the holidays and puts a little sass on it: a lineup that this year includes creepy-cute Wendy Liebman, Vietnamese-Jewish Joe Nguyen, Habib, and Geduldig herself. A real nice place to take the fam if you’re ready for a break from “closed for the holidays” and canned expectations of world peace and fraternal love.

For Habib’s part, he’ll be following in the grand standup tradition of playing off the idiosyncrasies of his lovingly wacky life, which for him isn’t as easy as it sounds, really. “These things come so naturally to me that I don’t always see the funniness in it.” Kung Pao gives him a chance to play up the Jewish side of his routine, not something he usually focuses on. “I will say,” he says. “That it’s going to feel good to come back to my people.”

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy

Thurs/23 and Sun/26 dinner 5-6 p.m., comedy 6-7:30 p.m.

Fri/24-Sat/25 dinner 6-7 p.m., comedy 7-8:30 p.m.

All shows $42-62

New Asia Restaurant

772 Pacific, SF

(925) 275-9005

www.koshercomedy.com

The only Xmas mix you’ll ever need

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0
The only Xmas mix you’ll ever need

Excellently talented hip-hop, soul, and old school groove DJ and accomplished local artist Romanowski, just popped a super-fun and jingly mix into our stocking, and we couldn’t help but share with you. The anti-drunk driving version of “Silver Bells” had us rolling. Uncork some cognac, put the kiddies by the fire, roll up a fat one for Rudolph, and listen after the jump.

 

HOLIDAY’S WITH ROMANOWSKI by romanowski45

Video babies of 2010: A wee look back

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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1

Smoking Baby, Preacher Baby, Iron Baby, Samba Baby, Mini Daddy — Is it too premature to nominate 2010 for “Year of the Video Baby”? Copious amounts of Gaga-goo aside, this year had plenty to offer li’l sprout gawkers — the baby meme has definitely replaced the baby mama as our go-to young ‘un pop cultural signifier of choice. Here are some of our favorite kid video (kideo?) shout-outs from the past year …

>>Iron Baby

>>Heavy Metal Baby

>>Samba Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSBnNA_dHNU

>>Smoking Baby

>>Mini Daddy (NOT Smoking baby)

>>Awesome Poetry Baby

>>Chronic Reggae Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd5yN43TqCk

>>Baby Monkey Riding Pig

>>Demon Baby from Hell

>>BONUS Two-Headed Baby Turtle

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

 

Chiu, the mayor and the next board

Zelda Bronstein
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12
Chiu, the mayor and the next board

Matier and Ross today ran a piece saying exactly what everybody who follows local politics already knew: Board president David Chiu will have considerable influence over the choice of the next mayor. The thing is, Chiu has to make a decision, soon: Does he want to be interim mayor (thus giving up his board seat and risking losing in November) or go for the district attorney job (thus giving Newsom a swing-vote appointment to the board and pissing off the progressive constituency that got him elected and will be critical to his political future) or move to keep his position as board president (which means working some deals with the incoming board)?


He has to decide pretty soon, too.


Chiu can almost guarantee that the current board doesn’t choose a mayor. that will take six votes, and without Chiu, neither the progressives nor the moderates can count to six. That would put his fate (both as a potential mayor and board president) in the hands of the new board.


And while everyone at the Chron seems to accept at face value the notion that the new board will be more centrist, I don’t think we know that yet. The only way this board moves to the center is if Jane Kim, a former Green Party member  who replaces Chris Daly, starts to abondon her progressive principles. If that doesn’t happen, then all this talk of a more centrist new board is bunk.


Remember: D2, Farrell replaces Alioto-Pier — a wash. D4: carmen Chu re-elected. D6: Kim replaces Daly. D8: Wiener replaces Dufty — a wash. D 10: Cohen replaces Maxwell — probably a wash, since Maxwell was never part of the progressive majority.


The only twist is that Chiu supported Kim and they’re close, so she would back him for mayor. But Daly might, too.


The bottom line: Chiu has to decide pretty soon what he wants to do, and let the rest of us know.

Could California go bankrupt?

Zelda Bronstein
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41
Could California go bankrupt?

Not today, not under current federal law. But Calitics alerts me to a really disturbing story that I didn’t know about: Congressional Republicans are pushing legislation that would allow (and actually encourage) state bankruptcies. The idea, of course, is to break public-employee unions and wipe out pensions that people have paid into and earned.

Oh, and by the way: The bill would almost certainly make it harder for states to borrow money for infrastructure projects. The cost of bonds would go up, California would have less money to build new schools, roads, high-speed rail etc. Again, something the Republicans like.

It’s crazy: California is such a wealthy state, and should be nowhere near bankruptcy. I heard on the radio the other day that Jerry Brown is going to have to do now what he should have done in 1978: Make Californians feel the affects of Prop. 13. Back then, after warning that the tax-cutting measure would have calamitous results, he used state money to bail out local governments and prevent the impacts from being felt. Now, when there’s no state money left, local governments are going to get hit really hard. The disaster that Prop. 13 opponents warned about 32 years ago is finally going to hit.

At the very least, if that’s Brown’s approach, he’s going to have to work to allow local governments more freedom to raise revenue on their own. Unless he wants cities and counties (which by law CAN go bankrupt) to follow that route. And I don’t think he does.

Year in Music: K. Flay’s Top 10 of 2010

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: K. Flay’s Top 10 of 2010

– These New Puritans, “We Want War” video. Slow motion videos can either be awesome or insanely awesome. “We Want War” is the latter.
– Girl Talk, All Day. We played this a bunch on tour and it made me feel like I didn’t have a job but also would never need one. Which is probably one of the top ten life scenarios of 2010.
– Liz Phair at The Independent, October 10, 2010. Liz Phair > egg sandwiches. No, really.
– Kid CuDi, “Don’t Play This Song.” I first heard this track while driving through crazy fog on Interstate 8 in the Arizona foothills at 2 a.m., which was probably the best possible context I could have imagined. CuDi perfectly captures a sense of calculated self-destruction.

– Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. As soon as I heard the title of the new Big Boi album I knew I would like it. “Tangerine” and “Ain’t No DJ” are my favorite cuts.
– Sleigh Bells, “Riot Rhythm.” This track is filthy. And I mean that in the best way. Make sure you are at least ten feet away from my face when the drums drop.
– Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A phenomenal album from one of the most innovative musicians of our generation. Production-wise, this is my favorite Kanye record to date.
– Usher feat. Nicki Minaj, “Little Freak.” This song is my guilty pleasure. The fact that a classic Stevie Wonder synth line can peacefully coexist with Usher’s persistent ménage à trois requests never ceases to blow my mind.
– Arcade Fire, “We Used To Wait.” A friend of mine told me I would cry when I watched this video and I didn’t believe her until I was sitting in front of my laptop choking back nostalgia sobs.
– Big KRIT feat. Yelawolf, “Hometown Hero.” “Hometown Hero” features two of the most talented lyricists to blow up this year. I’m just waiting for someone to make a movie based on this song.

The video for “Coastin'” by Zion I feat.K. Flay:

K. Flay, “Crazytown”:

Year in Music: Lyrics Born’s Top 10 Albums of 2010

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: Lyrics Born’s Top 10 Albums of 2010

Lyrics Born, As U Were
Joyo Velarde, Love and Understanding
Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Chromeo, Business Casual
Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
Far East Movement, Free Wired
Trackademicks, The Remix Tape, Vol. 3
The Black Keys, Brothers
John Legend and The Roots, Wake Up
Zion I, Atomic Clock

Video for “Like a G6” by Far East Movement feat. The Cataracs, DEV:

 

 

Year in Music: E Da Boss’s Top 10 of 2010

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: E Da Boss’s Top 10 of 2010

– Myron & E live with Kings Go Forth and The Selector Kirk at Elbo Room, SF
– The Pendletons, “Comin Down”/”Waiting On You” 7-inch
– Roy Ayers, live at Yoshi’s, SF
– Sweater Funk, every Sunday night at Li Po Lounge, SF
– Track the Movement, with Jerry Nice and B. Cause, first Saturdays at Showdown Bar, SF
– 45 Sessions One Year Anniversary, with DJ’s Platurn, Pump and Headspin, Enki, and E da Boss at Layover Bar, Oakland
– Change the Beat, with DJ Centipede and Mophono, every Tuesday at SOM SF.
– GrownKidsRadio Episode No. 18: “Natural Self Feature”
– El Guincho, “Bombay” video
– Groove Merchant 20 Year Anniversary LP

The video for El Guincho’s “Bombay”:

“Simple and Sweet,” from Starbooty by Roy Ayers and Ubiquity:

Year in Music: Amp Live’s Top 10 Songs of 2010 (Guilty Pleasure List)

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: Amp Live’s Top 10 Songs of 2010 (Guilty Pleasure List)

 

Bassnectar, “The 808 Track”
The Black Keys, “Tighten Up”
Drake, “Fancy”
Jay Electronica, “Exhibit C”
Flying Lotus, “Do the Astral Plane”
E-40 “B*tch”
Wiz Khalifa, “Black and Yellow”
Fat Joe, “Ha Ha”
Civil Twilight, “Letters from the Sky”
Rihanna, “Only Girl (In the World)”

The video for Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow”:

Newsom tries to defy City Charter

Zelda Bronstein
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31
Newsom tries to defy City Charter

Gavin Newsom knew that if he got elected lieutenant governor, the supervisors would be able to choose his replacement. That was part of the deal. Now he wants to game the system, and delay his swearing in until the new board takes over. The claim: “The board should pick a caretaker, not a politician.”


A politician? In the mayor’s office? Um, dude: What are you?


This is not only annoying and dubiously legal, but stupid. Does Newsom really think the incoming board is more likely to choose a caretaker? No such luck. The incoming board is likely to choose David Chiu — a politician who will likely run in November.


Besides, the state Constitution says the lite guv takes office Jan. 3rd. So if Newsom refuses to take the oath of office, one could certainly argue that he has vacated that position, meaning the governor, Jerry Brown, could appoint a replacement. I think if Newsom carries through with his lame threat that Jerry should do exactly that.


PS: Newsom also said he “can’t just walk away and see everything blow up and there are a few politicians in this town that want to serve on ideological agenda.” Let’s be clear here: Newsom also has an ideological agenda. He thinks same-sex marriage should be legal and taxes should be low. He thinks it should be illegal to sit on the sidewalk. He’s got plenty of ideology.


He just doesn’t want a mayor whose ideology he disagrees with. Too late, Gav: You decided to leave the city. Now leave the rest of us alone to deal with the consequences. 


 

SFBG Radio: Why the rich won’t flee

Zelda Bronstein
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10
SFBG Radio: Why the rich won’t flee

Every time I talk about taxing the rich, some cretin comments and tells me that if you raise their taxes, they’ll all leave California. I’ve heard the same thin about businesses — and there is no factual evidence to support that. Johnny and I talk about this lunacy after the break.

sfbgradio12162010 by endorsements2010

San Francisco activists denounce WikiLeaks crackdown

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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3
San Francisco activists denounce WikiLeaks crackdown

A small group of protesters gathered outside the British Consulate in San Francisco’s financial district Dec. 16 to speak out against the recent crackdown on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is out on bail after being imprisoned for nine days by British authorities.

Assange, whose organization recently created an international stir with the release of secret diplomatic cables, could be extradited to Sweden to be tried on sex crimes charges following a hearing in January.

According to a recent New York Times article, U.S. government officials are trying to build a case against Assange for conspiracy. In the wake of the leak, Sen. Joe Lieberman was calling for the New York Times to be investigated for espionage for publishing information provided by WikiLeaks, and last week, a Fox news pundit even said he thought Assange should be assasinated.

Among the small crowd that gathered before twilight were representatives from Veterans for Peace, Courage to Resist, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Rainey Reitman, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation — a legal firm and nonprofit that defended WikiLeaks against a 2008 lawsuit from Swiss bank Julius Baer — called the recent backlash a threat to Internet freedom and freedom of speech.

“Let me be clear. Here in the United States of America, WikiLeaks has a fundamental right to publish truthful political information. And equally important, Internet users have a fundamental right to read that information and voice their opinions about it. We live in a society that values freedom of expression and shuns censorship. Unfortunately, those values are only as strong as the will to support them — a will that seems to be dwindling now in an alarming way,” Reitman said.

Reitman said the case touched on broader issues. “This isn’t just about WikiLeaks. It never was. It’s about the future of the Internet and the future of free speech.”

Among several other speakers, Reitman was joined by Jeff Patterson of Courage to Resist, which has mounted a support campaign for U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning. Manning has been accused of acting as WikiLeaks’ source for 250,000 secret government documents and classified military footage, which has now been made available to the general public.

Patterson noted that the Bradley Manning Support Network had raised $100,000 for Manning’s legal defense. Although many activists have sent letters of support to Manning, who is being held in solitary confinement in a prison outside of Washington, D.C., “the military is rejecting letters pretty much arbitrarily,” Patterson claimed.

To read more about the WikiLeaks saga, check out the blog of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The politics of the last great depression

Zelda Bronstein
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4
The politics of the last great depression

The American economy’s worse now than at any time since the Great Depression — and whatever the Republicans say in Congress (and the president signs on to) the private sector alone can’t possible pull us out. The only reason we’re not at 1930s levels of unemployment is that we’ve had some modest federal stimulus money over the past two years.


But we’ve got this dilemma: Although every smart economist agrees that it will take more massive federal spending to turn things around, all we’re getting out of Washington is the worst kind of spending — tax cuts for the rich, which will cost $900 billion and do very little to help the economy.


Part of what’s going on — and Jerry Brown talked about it at his education summit — is that the public doesn’t trust government to spend their money wisely. Brown cited a poll saying that nearly half of Californians still think we can solve most of the budget problems in the state by getting rid of government waste.


The Pew Research Center has put together a couple of fascinating papers on attitudes toward the public sector, and they’re worth a rad. (Thanks, Gabriel Metcalf at SPUR for tipping me off about this.) The first one is called “How a different America responded to the Great Depression.” Researcher Jodie Allen’s conclusion:


Quite unlike today’s public, what Depression-era Americans wanted from their government was, on many counts, more not less. And despite their far more dire economic straits, they remained more optimistic than today’s public. Nor did average Americans then turn their ire upon their Groton-Harvard-educated president — this despite his failure, over his first term in office, to bring a swift end to their hardship. FDR had his detractors but these tended to be fellow members of the social and economic elite.


More:


The most striking difference between the 1930s and the present day is that, by the standards of today’s political parlance, average Americans of the mid-1930s revealed downright “socialistic” tendencies in many of their views about the proper role of government.


True, when asked to describe their political position, fewer than 2% of those surveyed were ready to describe themselves as “socialist” rather than as Republican, Democratic or independent. But by a lopsided margin of 54% to 34%, they expressed the opinion that if there were another depression (and fears of one were mounting), the government should follow the same spending pattern as FDR’s administration had followed before.


And, those surveyed said they supported Roosevelt, the architect of the New Deal’s expansive programs, over his 1936 Republican opponent, Alfred Landon by more than two-to-one (62%-30%).


The charts are fascinating. A full 73 percent of Americans polled in 1936 thought government should provide free medical care to the poor. Sixty-four percent thought government should regulate and control war-time profits. In fact, 59 percent thought the government should take over the electric power industry and 69 percent favored nationalizing the wartime munitions industry.


And the people who were polled in these early surveys were overwhelmingly white, male and relatively well off. They were also socially conservative — 60 percent favored the death penalty and 67 percent wanted to deport all immigrants who were on public relief. Allen:


Is there a message in this for today’s America? Two possible lessons: First, it’s worth remembering that the social programs and banking controls that the New Deal era produced stood the nation in good stead over many decades of unprecedented prosperity. Second, Depression-era Americans’ faith in the country and its guiding institutions steeled them against the challenges of a double-dip recession and, years later, World War II. They had it worse, but they also expected it to get better, faster.


Compare that to a 1983 poll taken in the depth of the Reagan Recession, when 65 percent said that government had gone too far in regulating business, 62 percent rarely trusted the government in Washington and 78 percent opposed raising income taxes.


Fifty years, two generations, and the entire attitude of the American public toward government was turned on its head. It’s one of the fundamental dilemmas of American life, and one of the central reasons we’re in this mess.

Republicans are hypocrites, Democrats are spineless

Sasha Cuttler
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7
Republicans are hypocrites, Democrats are spineless

Adding $800 billion to the federal deficit and exacerbating the inequitable, unprecedented, and unsustainable concentration of wealth in the richest 1 percent of Americans, Congress overwhelmingly approved a package of reckless tax cuts that President Barack Obama asked for and is expected to sign today.

The only saving grace in this dismal debacle is the fact that almost the entire Bay Area congressional delegation voted against the deal (while Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t vote at all), once again showing that if there’s even a glimmer of hope for saving the country from further descending into myopic and cowardly self-indulgence, it’s going to have to come from us.

Sure, I’ll happily spend the crumbs that they’ve dropped on me in the form of a payroll tax cut, and extending unemployment payments for the lingering victims of this stubborn recession isn’t a bad thing. But the vast majority of the benefits of this bill went to the wealthy, people who don’t need to be stealing from future generations.

Let’s be clear, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was during his nine-hour, one-man filibuster of the bill last week: this is about the greedy rich, who have purchased our political system, taking what they want and showing an indefensible disregard for the interests of this country and the vast majority of its citizens. And they have found a partner in President Obama, who was elected to office largely by criticizing Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy that he’s now extending and the wasteful wars that he’s escalating.

Happy holidays, and please pass the egg nog, with extra brandy, please.

PG&E granted cash reward, green light on power plant

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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0

While news surrounding Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has been dominated by a faulty weld and early warnings on the the San Bruno gas pipeline, which ruptured in a fatal explosion Sept. 9, the giant utility company received some good news at the Dec. 16 California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) meeting.

Not only was PG&E awarded an additional $29 million cash reward for its performance in an energy efficiency program, bringing the total amount it’s received to $104 million, but it was granted commission approval to construct a new, $1.5 billion power plant in Oakley.

Ironically, the energy-efficiency program is designed to reduce the need to construct new power plants, which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for climate change.

The additional bonus was approved with a 3-2 vote on the “final true-up” of the energy-saving program. An independent CPUC evaluation of the utility’s performance in that program found that it fell short of the targets required to receive a cash bonus.

Commission President Michael Peevey justified the additional cash reward by saying utilities could not have known that the numbers they used to estimate energy savings were inflated, and that they would not have been able to adjust their energy-saving tactics in the middle of the program cycle to improve performance.

According to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), a consumer-advocacy branch of the regulatory agency, “The CPUC today approved the additional $29.1 million award to PG&E in a 3-2 split vote, despite an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that no further bonuses should be awarded, nor penalties levied. Rather than receiving an additional $29 million bonus, PG&E should repay $74.9 million in bonuses already awarded for energy efficiency programs that failed to meet CPUC-established energy savings goals, and it should pay an additional $1.3 million in penalties, based on the original incentive mechanism.”

Barbara George, executive director of Women’s Energy Matters, blasted the decision. “In this shaky economy, it’s incredible that the Commission would force ratepayers to pay profits for utilities that missed their targets by a mile. This hurts everyone in California. Cities, businesses, and residential ratepayers will all have to pay twice for utilities’ failures — once for these undeserved ‘rewards,’ and again in high monthly utility bills that should have been reduced by these programs, but were not.”

The 4-1 vote to approve PG&E’s Oakley power plant was a reversal of an earlier commission decision rejecting the proposal. DRA weighed in on this item, too, saying data on PG&E power reserves suggests that the new facility is unnecessary.

“PG&E ratepayers are now on the hook for $1.5 billion in costs for energy they don’t need while being shut out of the decision-making process that will leave all PG&E customers with higher utility bills,” said DRA acting director Joe Como.

The Performant: Child’s play

Andrew Lam
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0

The Mission gets a lot of ink these days for being a nexus of youthful, responsibility-free hipsterdom — but despite the skinny jeans and thick mustaches, the neighborhood still retains a surprisingly family-friendly vibe. For one, it’s still rife with community arts spaces, so it’s a good place for kids to get involved creatively: from Loco Bloco percussion classes, to brass band and capoeira courses at the Mission Cultural Center and Precita Eyes‘ lessons in mural installation.

Thanks in large part to the winter holidays, December is a great time to explore the youth arts scene as next wave performers strengthen their stage chops and strut their stuff and this last weekend played host to some of the best and brightest of these stage openings.

First up: the Community Music Center held their annual La Posarela at the Victoria Theatre. The production was a combination of Mexico’s traditional December plays, the posadas and pastorelas, which are both Catholic theatrical rites meant to re-enact the story of the birth of the baby Jesus. CMC’s starred members of its various classes and groups, including its children’s chorus, Latin vocal workshop, Coro del Pueblo, and Mission District young musicians programs.

In the flower of their youthitude: Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie plays Brava

Other youth openings included the Marsh Youth Theatre‘s relaunch of its now-perennial Siddhartha: The Bright Path and Krissy Keefer’s revamped Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie, which took the stage at the Brava Theater Center and was adapted for Dance Brigade’s various youth dance programs: beginning ballet was represented, as was hip-hop, belly dance, and taiko drumming.

A note on this last show: there’s something strangely inspiring about watching a group of determined girls wallop the heck out of a sturdy row of giant drums, fight off the annoying machinations of a pack of devious rats, overcome racial innuendo and classism, and dress up as jellyfish all in one production — and though pop culture references abounded throughout the production (party guests included Lady Gaga and the Jersey Shore kids), the delicate snowflake core of The Nutcracker did not melt under their onslaught. 

Like Waters for (hot) chocolate: the infamous film knave plays a holiday show at the Roxie. Photo by David Magnusson

But of course the Mission would not be the Mission if there weren’t holiday treats for big kids too, and John Waters’ appearance at the Roxie Theatre‘s 101st anniversary fundraiser was definitely one of those. After waxing rhapsodic about the possibility of receiving sticks and stones curated by artists such as Richard Serra, pulp fiction bookstore KAYO Books, and Alvin and the Chipmunks, he moved on to sharing his holiday wishlist of big ideas. This included opening a movie theater with gay and straight water fountains just to watch the fur fly, hosting an abortion film festival, going on a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” USO Tour with Beth Ditto, Pee Wee Herman, and Iggy Pop, and having a nervous breakdown onstage.

As it was, no-one had a nervous breakdown at all — but here’s hoping at the very least Waters’ less comedic desire to see the Roxie thrive for another 101 years will be fulfilled.

Year in Music: The Soft Moon’s Top 10 Albums of 2010 (Reissue-Style)

John Elberling
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0
Year in Music: The Soft Moon’s Top 10 Albums of 2010 (Reissue-Style)

Omar Khorshid, Guitar El Chark
Niagara, Niagara
Congregacion, Viene
Neu! vinyl box set
Franco Battiato, Fetus
Iron Curtain, “Terror Story”/”Anorexia” 7-inch
Can, Future Days
Brain Ticket, Cottonwoodhill
Chrome, Alien Soundtracks
Fabulous Diamonds, Fabulous Diamonds II

Video for “Parallels” by The Soft Moon:

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