As West Fest approaches, Noise is showcasing some of the 18 different concert posters created for the event, which takes place on Sunday, October 25 at Golden Gate Park.
Here’s a poster by Wendy Wright:
SFBG Blogs
Live Take: Part Time Punks fest, 10/9/09
By Nicole Gluckstern
The Raincoats. All photos by Morlock E.
Punk rock will never die, but as the years go by, old school punks often do wind up slowing down a bit. They start families, work at software companies or film studios, pay for rent and food — all acts of respectable members of society. But just because you get a full-time job doesn’t mean you have to give up rock forever, you just have to cut back to part-time. At least that’s the premise that LA’s Part Time Punks club night founders Michael Stock and Benjamin White might have begun with when they threw their first party of late ’70s-early ’80s post-punk music in 2005.
Savage Republic
With time-tested acts such as the Slits, the Avengers, and Savage Republic and an impressive collection of URGH!-era rekkids to spin, the Part Time Punks have gained an eager following among older fans who were there to begin with, and younger ones who just wish they’d been. Both versions of fan were in broad attendance Friday at the Mezzanine, when the PTP crew and an impressive slew of live acts, including Joy Division peers Section 25, and the elusive, influential Raincoats, stormed the stage for the first-ever Part Time Punks mini-fest away from home.
Viv Albertine
We get there just as San Francisco-based Magic Bullets are wrapping up their set, and are treated instead to a sharp DJ set which barrels down post-punk memory lane with fierce momentum. Viv Albertine, formerly of the Slits, armed with just her guitar and a slew of Sid Vicious stories, takes the stage next. Her often-confessional lyrics about the unwelcome passage of time, orgasmic dysfunction, heroin needles, and the lonely artist’s life were no less unflinching than any Slits ode to self-destructive boys and shoplifting, though the sheer ferocity of the delivery has been taken down a notch.
Appetite: Whiskey wonderland and a Cool Black Ball
Every week, Virginia Miller of personalized itinerary service and monthly food, drink, and travel newsletter, www.theperfectspotsf.com, shares foodie news, events, and deals. View the last installment here.
Whiskeyfest events and tastings all week long. Sazerac cocktail photo by Daniel Stumpf
Through 10/17 – Whiskeyfest happenings all week long
I told you about Whiskeyfest happening this Friday in last week’s Appetite, but for those who either can’t afford the big blowout at the Marriott on Friday, or who want to keep the celebration (and tasting) going all week, pick from a stellar line-up and range of events happening through Saturday. Whiskeyfest’s Web site has a comprehensive listing, as does one of my favorite spirits’ blogs, Camper English’s Alcademics. There are tasting sessions from distillers and whiskey experts at restaurants and bars around town, like Elixir and 15 Romolo, roundtable tastings and a Glenfiddich & Cigars night at whiskey dive bar haven, Broken Record, Fifth Floor’s always classy Whiskey Wednesdays and other special happy hours, and even a whiskey dinner at the Alembic put on by K&L Wine Merchants. So many choices, (thankfully) all of them involving whiskey.
www.maltadvocate.com
10/17 – Lower Fillmore’s Cool Black Ball
Here’s sexy way to drink and dine… in a night that evokes the jazz glory days of Lower Fillmore, come out in your 1920’s-50’s dress for Cool Black Ball, darting in and out of Fillmore’s jazz clubs and restaurants, like 1300 on Fillmore, Yoshi’s, Rasselas, Sheba Piano Lounge. Each will feature special menu items, jazz bands and dancing till 2am, concerts included with the price of a ticket (or a free show at Bruno’s on Fillmore; note details on the website for getting half off your ticket if you dine at Yoshi’s or Rasselas). In the Fillmore Center Plaza from 7:30-8:30pm, there’s free swing lessons and open dancing in the plaza from 8:30-10pm. Think vintage clothing from any of those four decades, with emphasis on “cool, classy, sexy, hip and all black”. Certainly non-vintage black is welcome, and watching Fillmore come alive with finely dressed partiers should be a surreal experience. Come out for a little night music… and some food.
10/17, 7pm-2am
$30 Advance; $40 at door (Fillmore Center Plaza)
Lower Fillmore Street (between Post and Eddy)
www.coolblackball.com
The fabulous Ms. Bernhard!
By Louis Peitzman
Outspoken, controversial, and riotously funny: Sandra Bernhard is, in a word, loud. For her fans, that’s never been a problem. Now we can enjoy Whatever It Takes, her latest album, and see her live at the Rrazz Room in an intimate new show. I spoke to Sandra about the Bay Area, her politics, and — well — what it takes.
San Francisco Bay Guardian: What brings you back to San Francisco?
Sandra Bernhard: A gig and money. (laughs) And the fact that somebody actually wants me to come back to San Francisco. How could I ever say no to San Francisco?
SFBG: Well, what’s different about performing in San Francisco as opposed to New York?
SB: You know, I can never really quite figure out what San Francisco is at this point. It’s kind of a weird hybrid of the old hippie, you know, Castro Street life, and post-Silicon Valley, you know, the money that was made off the Internet and all that. It’s sort of a weird combination of people with a lot of money and people with absolutely no money at all. But that said, I don’t know. San Francisco’s just a mellower New York, and although I get great response there, people are just not quite as harried, or on the run like they are in New York City.
Don’t Ask, Just Drag
By Caitlin Donohue
Where is Cindy Sheehan these days? The 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee/mom was all up in the news a few years ago what with the campouts in Bush’s front yard and all. Inside scoop: this Halloween she’ll be kicking up her heels right here in the city on behalf of a dragged-up peaceful protest to remember.
Spend your Halloween advocating for more choppers with pink bows in their propellers
Yes, the Peace Mom herself will be tramping about on stage as George W. Bush himself, in Comfort & Joy’s “Make Drag Not War” benefit drag revue, hosted by Artist Malcom Drake. The event is a benefit for Dialouges Against Militarism, a group sending a delegation to Israel and Palestine to meet with peaceniks on all sides of the Gaza Strip conflict.
Stephen Frank of Iraq Veterans Against the War organized the event, which features a debut drag performance by 12 of his gung-ho veterans. Stephen says the boys are excited to rock the stage, if understandably a little nervous. “The performance will be based on stories from the military perspective. These are significant issues, and instead of sitting in a circle and talking about them, we’ll be reenacting them in a way that’s more entertaining.”
SF Boylesque: Using their good looks to noble ends
Bravo, boys. Our troops will be sharing the stage (provided without charge to the event planners by Mission Dance Theater) with Raya Light, Suppositori Spelling and all male burlesque beauties SF Boylesque. A few of our intrepid performers leave for the Middle East tour early Sunday morning. Shall we send them off with a bad hangover and good memories?
Sat/31 7:30 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.), $15-$20
Dance Mission Theater
3316 24th St., SF
http://www.againstmilitarism.org/buytickets
Solomon: The War Stampede
The War Stampede
By Norman Solomon
Disputes are raging within the Obama administration over how to continue the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan. A new leak tells us that Washington’s ambassador in Kabul, former four-star general Karl Eikenberry, has cautioned against adding more troops while President Hamid Karzai keeps disappointing American policymakers. This is the extent of the current debate within the warfare state.
During a top-level meeting November 11 in the White House, the Washington Post reports, President Obama “was given a series of options laid out by military planners with differing numbers of new U.S. deployments, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 troops. None of the scenarios calls for scaling back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or delaying the dispatch of additional troops.”
Dick Meister: Young workers and our future
One of every five U.S. workers aged 18 to 25 live below the official poverty line. More than one third of U.S. workers under 35 are living with their parents because they can’t afford to live on their own.There are solutions.
By Dick Meister
(Dick Meister, former labor editor of the SF Chronicle and KQED-TV’s Newsroom, has covered labor, politics, and other matters for a half-century.)
These are exceptionally painful economic times for the young Americans who will shape our future.
Mexico report: The anarchists return
By John Ross
MEXICO CITY — An unprecedented wave of anarchist bombings here and in provincial capitals has Mexican security forces on red alert.
Beginning September 1st, bombs have gone off once or twice a week regularly as clockwork, taking out windows and ATMs at five banks, and torching two auto showrooms and several U.S. fast-food franchises and an upscale boutique in the chic Polanco district of this conflictive capital. In each case, the Anarchist “A” has been spray-painted on nearby walls along with slogans supporting animal liberation demands to stop prison construction, and calls for the demise of capitalism.
The serial bombings are the first to strike Mexico City since November 2006, when radicals took out a chunk of the nation’s highest electoral tribunal, blew up a foreign-owned bank, and scorched an auditorium in the scrupulously-guarded compound of the once and future ruling PRI party. The 2006 attacks came in the wake of a fraud-marred presidential election and federal police suppression of a popular uprising in the southern state of Oaxaca and were claimed by five armed groups, most prominently the Democratic Revolutionary Tendency, a split-off from the Marxist-Leninist Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) which itself bombed a Sears outlet in Oaxaca City in 2006 and PEMEX pipelines in central Mexico in 2007.
Anarchist cells that claim to have perpetrated the recent explosions take pains to distance themselves from the Marxist bombers.
In vindicating a September 25th blast at a Banamex branch in the rural Milpa Alta delegation (borough) of Mexico City during which the rebels claim a half million pesos were immolated, “The Subversive Alliance For The Liberation Of The Earth, The Animals, & The Humans” (in that order) charged that the U.S.-owned bank promoted “torture, destruction, and slavery. “Our motives are to stop these bastards and let them know that we are not playing games.”
SF vs. the Catholic Church, round 3
By Ryan Thomas Riddle
A decision is expected next month in the high-stakes battle
between the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Assessor-Record Phil Ting, which will determine whether the church will pay out millions in transfer taxes.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, Ting once again went before the Transfer Tax Review Board to counter the Archdiocese’s
assertions that its extensive 2008 property transfers aren’t taxable. The board then called for final legal documentation in the case, including closing briefs, to be delivered by both sides on Nov. 9. The board will render its final ruling two weeks later, according to Ting.
“It is in the capable hands of the tax review board,” he told the Guardian.
Ting said he expects that the verdict will be in his office’s favor, which could force the Catholic Church to pay somewhere between $3 million and $15 million in transfer taxes to the city. Church officials, who have yet to respond to our calls, contend that the properties the archdiocese moved from one interdenominational entity to another are considered a “gift” under canon law, and thus do not qualify for transfer taxation since the properties still belong to the greater Catholic Church.
The Assessor’s Office reviewed a January 2009 California Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed the national Episcopal Church’s ownership of local church buildings and properties, a case the archdiocese has cited. “Basically, it’s an interdenominational conflict that has no barring on this case,” Ting said.
As for accusations from the more militant church supporters that this is the city’s retaliation for the passing of Proposition 8
, Ting said that his office made overtures on the transfer taxes long before the same-sex marriage issue went to the election ballot. Craig Dziedzic, manager of the recording division within the Assessor’s Office who testified in Thursday’s hearing, sent emails out to the legal counsel for the diocese regarding the transfer taxes back in April 2008, months before Prop 8 was passed.
Duck under your desk!
By Tim Redmond
Yes, that sound overhead is the annual display of America’s military might, the Blue Angels. And as always, I ask myself: Is this a good idea in a big city?
Addressing global poverty in UN Plaza
Story and photos by Sarah Morrison
It seemed only fitting that San Francisco’s first ever public eulogy to honor the thousands of people who die around the world from poverty-related causes took place yesterday at the UN Plaza – a link that almost all the speakers paid tribute to.
While religious leaders, educators and volunteers came together last night to honor individuals who have lost their lives to poverty, they also told the crowd that action must be taken to ensure that the United Nations Millennium Development Goals – which strive to end poverty and hunger – are embraced by all.
“For decades, the UN has tried to help people all over the world with the limited resources it has,” said Imam Suleiman Ghali from the Islamic Society of San Francisco as he began addressing the audience. “This gathering is to bring us together, to tell people what is going on in the world, and to say that it is something we no longer can accept.”
Farewell, Mister Marcus: **leather tear**
By Marke B.
Mr. Marcus, RIP. Photo from ebar.com
This isn’t about music per se — let’s not even go there with this one — but it IS about nightlife. Mister Marcus, who for decades tirelessly covered the international, national, local, spiritual, and intergalactic leather scenes has passed away at the age of 77. He had been hospitalized for some time for diabetes and arteriosclerosis.
Marcus wrote for the Bay Area Reporter, and I pretty much grew up on his weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) dispatches. Seriously, he knew EVERYTHING about the leather scene, documenting all the sash winners and losers, the hopefuls and string-pullers, and, yes, sassy sassy gossip. (Here’s one of his recent columns, that he wrote when he was 75, that shows off his breadth of knowledge.) Being a bit cantankerous on occasion, he also didn’t hesitate to cry foul or use his position to push for transparency and change on the leather circuit. At times he was controversial — but if you know any leather queens, you know know that the freakin’ color of M&M’s in a refreshment bowl at a charitable reception can be controversial. I’m not saying they’re fussy, but ….
…. but the community is also very loving. When I was a hardcore leather boy, Mr. Marcus — who was always busy — was incredibly encouraging and always took time to talk. (Another leather legend who recently passed, Daddy Alan Selby, “Mr. S” himself, took me under his wing and was an amazing mentor.) Mr. Marcus helped bind his community with his reports and nudges, and I fear its continued atomization now.
I also fear for the future of nightlife writing in this town. There are very few of us regular nightlife commentators left, even in the Blog Age — people who get creative and critical with their takes on parties and after-hours developments, even as they can’t stop dancing or performing or bringing it. Posting pictures of your nights out to Facebook doesn’t count. I hope people continued to be inspired by Marcus’ dedication to a scene, and begin to document and foster their own through choice words.
I smell coffee and sex
By Juliette Tang
I do most of my writing in cafes, because any attempt to write at home generally results in watching online videos and taking naps. Given some of the things I write about, the process of writing in public often induces a distracting level of self-consciousness that borders on fear. There’s always the mild worry that what I’m working on is ‘inappropriate’ for public consumption, a worry that’s as tiresome as it is shaming. As I furtively write on my laptop, I invent implausible scenarios that almost always result in my being exposed and then humiliated in some convoluted way. What if I’m writing at a cafe and someones child, lurking near my table, sees the engorged human genitalia trumpeting like something 3-D and malevolent from the light of my Google image search? Would I be escorted out by management for being some kind of sex offender? In front of all of Ritual? Why must they sell those tiny cupcakes that attract kids in the first place???
It is not always possible to detect a child’s presence. They are small, like bacteria.
My answer came in the form of Wicked Grounds, which opened two weeks ago in SOMA (289 8th St, at Folsom) — as luck would have it, literally in my backyard. Situated barely a block away from kink havens Madame S, Stormy Leather, and the Citadel, this new, 18+ kinky coffee shop fits into the neighborhood foliage and is, bewilderingly, the only ‘adult’ cafe in our city.
The quaint and welcoming Wicked Grounds serves pastries, Ritual Coffee, and Red Blossom Tea in a quiet space that is, like many cafes in our city, long, skinny, and adorned with the work of local artists. However, unlike every other cafe in our city, all the artwork in the cafe features naked people. Finally, a place where I can work in peace!
Environmental pork?
By Rebecca Bowe
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that he wouldn’t sign any new legislation unless a water plan is in place — and he has some very concrete ideas about what that plan should be. There are about 700 bills awaiting his signature by Sunday.
Siding with Republicans and Central Valley farmers on the water issue, Schwarzenegger has said he would veto any water package that does not include bonds for new dams and reservoirs, at a cost of an estimated $12 billion.
Major agricultural interests are hopeful that these projects will improve their access to water for irrigation, but environmentalists fear that investing in them would take the state down the wrong path when it comes to protecting environmental resources and encouraging more efficient water use. So far, an agreement hasn’t been reached.
As the deadline creeps closer, money is becoming a key concern, especially in the wake of dramatic budget cuts to education and social services. Environmentalists are worried that protections for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will be abandoned in favor of the major water-storage projects forcefully championed by Central Valley farmers who say they’re in dire straits due to unreliable water supply. Sen. Mark Leno told the Guardian this afternoon that as discussions go on, funding for stronger Delta protections is being eyed as a way to bring down the total cost of the water package.
Signaling a reversal from what lawmakers characterized as the “coequal goals” of water reliability and environmental protection at the beginning of the process, Leno says Delta ecosystem protections are now being characterized as “environmental pork” that should have a lower funding priority.
“Republicans are squawking [about the cost], but they won’t let there be any impact on dams, so all the money is coming out of protections for the Delta,” Leno said.
Editorial: PG&E’s biggest power grab ever
Wake up, City Hall — and get moving on community choice aggregation power
(B3 note: I made a mistake in this story. See the correction below.)
EDITORIAL San Francisco’s chance to create a semblance of public power, through community choice aggregation, faces a devastating threat from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. — and the city needs to move with a sense of real urgency to get this program off the ground.
CCA would allow San Francisco to buy electric power in bulk and sell it to customers at a reduced cost. It wouldn’t create a true public-power system — PG&E would still own the transmission facilities. And while customers would see price breaks, the city wouldn’t make much money off the deal. But it would be a major step toward breaking PG&E’s illegal monopoly.
The Chron, the guv and the issues
By Tim Redmond
It’s as if the San Francisco Chronicle didn’t recognize that there are real issues facing California — and that the governor is acting like a thug, threatening the future of the state and clowning around like it doesn’t matter.
Check this out: The Chron’s editorial page criticizes Tom Ammiano for standing up to the governor:
But Assemblyman Tom Ammiano crossed the line when he shouted “You lie!” at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during a Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday night. Ammiano reportedly went even further on the crass-o-meter when he suggested that the governor could kiss his posterior.
.
(By the way, this is San Francisco — it’s okay for the daily newspaper to say “ass.”)
And then suggests that this was just a nice event at which
The governor was invited for a brief visit to a Democratic Party event by former Mayor Willie Brown
(By the way, Brown is also a San Francisco Chronicle columnist)
without ever saying that Brown had no business bringing the governor — who is so openly threatening the Democrats with mass bill vetoes that Sen. Mark Leno is forced to ask “are we dealing with the Mob or the governor of California?” — to a Democratic party fundraiser.
Brown was playing his normal games, goofing around and ignoring the life-and-death issues at stake. He and Arnold are buds, and Brown backed Schwarzenegger for governor over a Democrat. He knew bringing the guy into that room would create a furor, and he knew that the governor would love it (it helps him with his conservative base to get booed by San Francisco Democrats.)
Ammiano knows all that, too, and frankly, was somewhat reserved in his comments. I would have gone further; I would have called out Willie Brown for a back-stabbing political stunt.
And don’t the Chron editorial writers have any sense of humor? “You lie” was a joke, guys, a parody. Please: Lighten up, and get a clue.
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Anneyumang, Judson and Gennessee
Tell us about your look: “This jacket is from Forever 21.”
SF vs. the Catholics, Round Two
By Ryan Thomas Riddle
Today, as Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting and the Archdiocese of San Francisco continue their ongoing battle over millions in transfer tax revenue, witnesses on both sides are being called to testify in this high-stakes case.
The two sides previously squared off on Tuesday, Oct. 6, when Ting got to present his side of the case before the Transfer Tax Review Board, countering church officials’ claims that their extensive 2008 property transfers doesn’t qualify for taxation. But the Assessor’s Office told the Guardian that it will take time before there is a resolution.
At issue are the diocese’s transferred properties, valued at anywhere from $210 million to $1.25 billion. If that’s the case then the transfer tax revenue could fall somewhere between $3 and $15 million, and more could be collected in property taxes once the properties are reassessed.
Blank walls beware: Estria’s Graffiti Battle Invitational brings the bombers
By Caitlin Donohue
Too legit: Street artist Estria (second from right) and the Together With Style crew in 1987
Where would we be without graffiti? The debate over vandalism and aesthetics rages ad infinitum in the larger world but let’s be real- street art has made urban living what it is today. No doubt, its creators should be celebrated- not harassed by law enforcement art critics. We’ve got a unique opportunity to do just that (celebrate, not harass) coming up with the Third Annual Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle, part of the “Life Is Living” park day of the Oakland literary celebration, Living Word Festival. The battle’s creator, Estria Miyashiro, is a cause for celebration in his own right. The former street bomber has been making walls beautiful in the Bay Area for decades, and now teaches graffiti and mural classes around the country… in addition to running his own silk screening operation in San Leandro. The man is busy. Luckily, we manage to snag him for a few questions on the upcoming Invitational, women in graf and walking that tricky line between staying real and getting paid.
San Francisco Bay Guardian: You started throwing pieces up in the 80s and created some epic works before being arrested in 1994 for vandalism. Did the arrest change your mindset on “illegal” pieces?
Estria: The arrest in ’92 didn’t change my mindset on graffiti, but it made me understand and appreciate other people’s views on it. Of course I miss the thrill of bombing, but I am grateful to not be spending my days in jail. Were I a bomber now, I would not hit private property or places of worship. At this point I am interested in the creation side of graffiti, rather than the destruction. Getting up is exciting and I still love seeing it. [But] my time for that has passed and now I have found other ways for me to contribute to graffiti culture.
“Samurai Girl” (2008) mural by Estria and Bounce, two time champion of Estria’s graffiti battles
SFBG: I’ve seen graffiti and other street art described in academic texts as a “reverse colonization”; the act by the underprivileged in our society of taking back the institutions that try to dominate them. Do you see any truth in that idea?
E: There is an aspect of graffiti that is reverse colonization. I look at it as the people’s media. The average person cannot afford a billboard or a commercial, but we can put words on walls. It is the first and last form of free speech. For me it is critical to paint the people and cultures I see in my communities, because I do not see them much on TV or in movies. I use my murals to culturally level the media playing field.
Live Shots: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, 10/2-10/4
Text and photos by Ariel Soto
Continuing with the constant flow of summer concerts, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival constructed five stages in Golden Gate Park and brought three days of music for one of the most popular events of the summer. The stages, with quirky names like the Rooster and Banjo, hosted musicians whose tunes ranged from hometown bluegrass to music that could have backed a Ford truck commercial. The crowds were rather overwhelming, with huge human traffic jams of people
trying to get from one stage to the next. But despite the throngs of fans, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, soaking up the last bits of Indian summer sunshine and throwing back more than a couple bottles of beers.
Street Threads: Look of the Day
SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.
Today’s Look: Kay, Judson and Forester
Tell us about your look: “I also work at Crossroads, but the shoes are from Jeremy’s.”
The Democrats wild night
By Tim Redmond
Well, I’m really sorry I missed the Democratic Party gala Wednesday night. Apparently it was quite a show. Brian Leubitz has a great report at Calitics on the unexpected appearance of Gov. Schwarzenegger and the overwhelmingly negative response by the attendees, including Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who stood up and shouted “You Lie!”
“It was political theater of the type we love,” Ammiano told me.
Seriously, though: Former Mayor Willie Brown apparently told the guv that the event was happening, and since Schwarzenegger was in the same hotel for a President’s Cup event, he decided (perhaps at Brown’s invitation, it’s not entirely clear) just to drop by. And everyone was supposed to act all nice and pretend that they’re aren’t real, serious issues in Sacramento and that the governor isn’t really, really screwing up the state and hurting a lot of people.
“This wasn’t the Legislative Chambers, where you have to put up with this shit,” Ammiano said.. “It’s like this guy just showed up and took a big dump in my living room.”
Labor folks weren’t happy, either, and a bunch of them walked out. Then Ammiano (and we should all give thanks that he’s in the Legislature, reminding everyone what San Francisco stands for) accepted an award and made a speech:
And then he proceeded to bludgeon the Governor’s record. He questioned why he was holding bills hostage to get a bad water deal. He questioned why a Governor who has vetoed the Harvey Milk Day bill would stand up in front of a room that was at least 25% LGBT. He politely asked Mayor Brown to send a message to the governor to sign the bills already.
And finally, Senator Mark Leno closed the proceedings for the evening. Leno took a different tack than Ammiano’s passion. He simply stated the facts. He said that the events of this evening were all funny and stuff, but the fact is that this Governor had cut state workers salaries by 15% with the furloughs. This Governor wanted to cut IHSS salaries to minimum wage. This Governor illegally used the line item veto to slash funding for domestic violence shelters. And that he, and the Senate Democrats, were going to fight him tooth and nail.
And to a loud applause, Leno stepped off the stage and the crowd began to thin. And everybody was saying, “um, wow.”
The other thing Ammiano said in his speech was that Democrats have gotten a little lax on standing up for their friends — and he mentioned both ACORN and Kim-Shree Maufas, and both times was met with huge applause.
And, of course, the Chron’s Carla Marinucci focused her reporton Willie Brown’s comments about how inappropriate this all was and how everyone needed to make nice to poor Arnold. But there are serious issue here that aren’t just fun and games, and when the stakes are as high as they are here, I’m glad to see them Democrats (or at least some of them) deciding not to play so nice with a governor who is smiling while he drives the state into bankruptcy and despair.
PS: Ammiano told me that when Marinucci called him, she seems astounded that he had said “kiss my gay ass” while walking out of the governor’s speech. “I told her, I don’t remember, but I probably did say that,” Ammiano said. “After all, it’s safe sex.”