SFBG Blogs

SPORTS: Clemens vs. Bonds in the public arena

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By A.J. Hayes

After hurling fastballs, screwballs, and more than his fair share of bean balls at major league hitters over the last 25 baseball seasons, an impassioned Roger Clemens had no trouble knocking 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace’s lollipop questions out of the park Sunday night.

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Roger Clemens: Speaking freely?

“Its hogwash,” Clemens said in response to how a former associate could have fingered him as a steroids user in the Mitchell Report. “Twenty-four, 25 years, Mike. You’d think I’d get an inch of respect. An inch.”

To that, Wallace gave an approving nod.

You may have been watching the 60 Minutes broadcast asking yourself, ‘why does Clemens get to play paddy cake with old’ prune face, while Barry Bonds is an unlucky verdict away from pounding license plates?’

Easy: public relations. Clemens cares what people think about him and his baseball record. While Bonds could give a rat’s ass what fans and especially the media thinks about him.

PG&E cuts off Ammianoliners!

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Our daily phone call to the answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano for our daily Ammianoliner could not go through for much of the day.

Yet another PG&E outage had knocked out his phone service. Ever notice how, when the first rain drops start falling, PG&E starts having outages–and there is no way to call in, and nobody to talk to or take complaints, and the mayor moves merrily on doing PG&E’s business. The latest Newsom moves on behalf of PG&E: He is putting PG&E-friendly Ed Harrington, city controller, into the PUC executive director post once held by Susan Leal ,who PG&E fired recently via Newsom because of her eeney weeny baby steps toward public power.

Anyway, we got through about 6:30 p.m. and heard the following Ammianoliner update on Newsom:

Newsom’s pre-nup agreement includes no question time.

Good going, Tom. 2008 will be your best year for hot Ammianoliners. B3

IOWA–IT’s WINNER-TASTIC

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By Will Durst

IOWA- IT’S WINNER- TASTIC.

The great thing about the Iowa Caucuses is even after
its over, nobody knows exactly what happened. Its best
described as musical chairs without the music. And no
chairs. On the Democratic side, people don’t really
vote. They attend, then move off into designated
candidate corners, but if not enough people hang in
your corner, you have to go somewhere else. So the
campaign staff that corners the market on breath mints
and deodorant could hold a huge advantage. Hey,
there’s worse ways to choose a candidate than by
picking the one with the best smelling followers.
People still talk about how great Hubert Humphrey’s
staffers smelled. Like winners.

That’s another great thing about the Iowa Caucuses-
everybody is a winner. The whole damn state is
littered with the detritus of winners. Iowa is winner-
tastic. Obviously, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee are
winners because… well, they won. And that’s what
winners do: they win. But you’d also have to say that
John Edwards and Mitt Romney are winners too, because
even though they came in second, they called
themselves winners, and as big time national
politicos- you got to assume they know what they’re
talking about. Hillary Clinton is apparently a winner,
because in her speech, after coming in third, she
never gave the slightest impression she hadn’t won, so
maybe she knows something the rest of us don’t, which
is another characteristic trait of winners.

Fred Thompson won because he came in third after
canvassing the state with the energy of a three-
legged tortoise on reds. John McCain won because he
spent no time in Iowa at all and still came in fourth.
Which, in some books, makes him a double winner. Ron
Paul is a big winner coming in a strong fifth, if
there is such a thing, when most experts didn’t even
expect him to be able to find Iowa on a map. Rudy
Giuliani, the Mayor of 9/11, won, because he spent no
money in Iowa, which can now be used to frighten
people in states with more foreigners. Bill Richardson
wasn’t really try to win anyhow, and he didn’t, so
he’s a winner. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd may be
the biggest winners because they don’t have to do this
anymore. Duncan Hunter is what you call a winner in
reverse, since he polled just 500 votes. Which is only
500 votes more than you or I got, and we weren’t even
running. Which certainly makes us winners.

The pundits win because they got a lot to talk about.
And because of the writers’ strike, people might
actually pay attention. The caucus goers win because
their electoral muscles have been exercised. Young
people are winners for having participated in
unprecedented numbers. Britney Spears wins since
people stopped paying attention to her. Hope wins.
Change wins. Evangelicals win. Chuck Norris wins.
African Americans win. The country wins. Lot of
winners here. Not going to be the case in New
Hampshire next week. Going to be a lot of losers
there. But here in the Hawkeye State, the biggest
winners of all may be the residents of the Great State
of Iowa themselves, not just because everybody has
already left them to themselves, but because as soon
as they did, the temperature rose about 30 degrees.
Comic, actor, writer, Will Durst smells funny.

will durst
wing commander
durstco
“you want the best, so do we”
2107 van ness ave
suite 402
san francisco 94109
877 SATIRIST service
415 441 3669 office
415 298 1874 cell
durst@willdurst.com
willdurst.com

More Newsom changes

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City Hall sources tell us that Mayor Gavin Newsom has named Controller Ed Harrington as the new director of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, his former budget director Ben Rosenfield as the new controller, and close confidante Mike Farrah at head of the Office of Neighborhood Services, although Newsom’s spokespersons have not yet confirmed the news. We’re also seeking an explanation of how the PUC move could be made before the commission — which must act to fire current director Susan Leal — formally meets to consider the matter.
But as we’ve reported, Newsom hasn’t been terribly concerned with the City Charter or the legality of his call for massive resignations. We’ll report more as we learn it, although it sounds like most city officials are bunkered down with storm response, so the details might have to wait until Monday, Jan. 7, the deadline Newsom set for himself to accept or reject all the resignations.

Newsom taps law-and-order Republican

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Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision to hire former U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan to head the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice speaks volumes about his administration’s philosophy and priorities.
It’s bad enough that Ryan is a Republican (Newsom has appointed several Republicans to important positions, including his disgraced former OES director AnnaMarie Conroy and Planning Commissioner Michael Antonini, but never any Greens). But Ryan is a right wing ideologue and Bush loyalist who incompetently ran the U.S. Attorney’s Office here into the ground and wrongfully imprisoned citizen journalist Josh Wolfe. This is the guy who will handle law enforcement policy in progressive San Francisco? Did Newsom know this stuff? Did he care? As the mayor begins his second term with nary a signal as to his intentions, Newsom isn’t offering much hope that he knows what he’s doing or that he plans to act in the best interests of all San Franciscans.

Obama, hope .. and fighting

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Everybody loves Barack Obama today. That’s good; he’s generating tremendous hope and energy in the Democratic Party, he’s got young people excited about politics, he’s given Hillary Clinton a wallop … and of course, of course, this country could do way worse than President Barack Obama.

His speech last night in Iowa was inspirational, full of the sort of stirring rhetoric that makes you want to drop everything and go to New Hampshire to knock on doors.

But I’m still a little nervous. Here’s the line, the one we’ve heard over and over again:

“The time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that’s been all about division and instead make it about addition – to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. … We’re choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.”

But see, I don’t want to come together in grand unity with the religious right. I don’t want to end my bitterness and anger toward Dick Cheney. I have nothing in common with Don Fisher. I think there are some real evil villains in this country, and I want a president who’s willing to say that, and who wants to defeat them and consign them to the dustbin of history.

Can Obama get beyond his desire for consensus and be tough enough to go in and kick ass and take names? Cause that’s what the next president has to do.

One word: SIRENS!

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Dunno about you all, but I live pretty close to SF General hospital and I have got to say the sirens haven’t quit since the early hours of today. Three cheers for all our emergency workers out there dealing with shit in this crappy weather. Heroic. I couldn’t even face leaving the house today.

Nuclear fuel casks, safe and sturdy?

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This is in response to a comment from a reader assuring us of the safety of nuclear fuel casks. Sorry the video is a little soft and fuzzy, but you’ll get the drift.

Cheers to the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility for providing the clip.

The day “Boobs!” died

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Alas, word has come on the hot gay wires that fabulously risquee night club chanteuse of the ’40s and ’50s, Ruth Wallis, has passed from Alzheimer’s.

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Wallis, progenitress of such incredibly double entendred tunes as “Hopalaong Chastity,” “The Dinghy Song” (“Davey had the cutest little dinghy in the Navy”), and, a personal favorite, “A Man, a Mink, and a Million Pink and Purple Pills” — and who was the inspiration for 2003 Off-Broadway tribute “Boobs! The Musical” — was 87.

Someone has just expunged all of her online clips (heirs already planning to cash in, perhaps?) but below is a fine Victrola-type dealie spinning “Johnny Had a Yo-Yo.” Blush and sing along with us, for Ruth.

Thanks to Matt Sussman of Flavorpill for passing the sad news on.

Hurray! The Iowans did it!

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B3 note: The Iowans did it. They sent out last night from their caucuses a clear and unambigous message: they demand change, they anointed the first real black candidate for president as their change agent, they don’t see the Clintons as change agents, they want populism, they are suspicious of big money and attack ads, they don’t want another Bush in the White House, they facilitated the passing of the torch to the next generation, they provided a public laboratory in democracy for the world to see. And it was all a wonderful show. Here is the final summing up from Carolyn Schmidt, our now veteran citizen journalist operating out of of the real grassroots in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and an Obama caucus in a neighborhood elementary school cafeteria.

By Carolyn Schmidt

Cedar Rapids, Iowa–Some of us Iowans just follow our heart, I guess. We just LIKE Obama and the things he helps us dream about–not very practical, perhaps. Edwards did well too, though. The fact that he slipped past Hillary means big money isn’t everything, and I think the Romney defeat carries that message too. Iowans resent all that extravagant spending. And even many of the Republicans were turned off by Romney’s unrelenting, repetitive attack ads. Hillary was appealing to many, but when it got right down to it, they saw her as part of the same old Washington game-playing.

Edwards’ ads about “looking our children in the eye” and telling them that we sold out their future are very powerful. I trust he’ll continue with those across the country.

I was sorry Biden and Dodd didn’t do better, because they certainly both have impressive international knowledge and experience, but in the caucus system their supporters had to have large enough numbers in a given precinct to be viable. In our precinct, we had a record-setting 239 people crammed into an elementary school cafeferia (compared to 104 in 2006). Candidates had to have 51 voters/supporters to be considered viable. Obama drew 164 of those votes in the end, up from an initial 134 by the addition of Richardson and Biden supporters who switched to Obama when their count came out short of the viable number.

We had more black people there than I knew lived in our precinct and lots of young people–students 18 and 19, and young couples in their early 20s. The younger folks were nearly all enthusiastic Obama supporters. Even though extra long benches had been brought in in anticipation of an extra large turnout, probably 50 people or so spent the full two and a half hours standing or switching places with kind souls who took pity on them.

Drip … drip … drip …

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Huddled under your soul blankets? Buffeted about, as Dante wrote of the damned lustful in The Inferno, in hell’s crosswise winds like a human kite? Take comfort in the immortal stylings of the one-and-only Ann Peebles, goddess of honkytonk R&B, baby. She’s your OG umbrella-ella-ella, ey ey ey.

Too bare ‘n funky for ya? 12-odd years later the heavens opened up (Heaven 17, that is, who produced) and gave us Tina Turner’s Fairlight-charged version (viewable here in a heat-pumping live version), which, 12-odd years later than that, drenched us in this jeep-beatin’ Timbaland-Missy classic:

And then 12-odd years after that (why not?), Hungary’s very own Britney, Dorina, rocks it. Czech it out.

Drip, drip, drip it by the dozens, gfs! and PS — no. I’m not about to go into Chocolate Rain on the boys side. Enoughs!

Stephen Stills’s surgery successful

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This just in from Stephen Stills’ publicists: “Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist and legendary guitarist Stephen Stills was successfully operated on today for prostate cancer in Los Angeles. ‘Stephen’s procedure went remarkably well and he couldn’t be better. He will be home by noon tomorrow and the pain will be minimal,’ his wife Kristen Stills said.

“The legendary artist is scheduled to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for the Jan. 25 world premiere of CSNY/Deja Vu. The feature, directed by Bernard Shakey, was filmed during the 2006 “Freedom of Speech” tour by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It is a moving tribute to the power of music to provoke and provide inspiration.

“Stephen Stills is also scheduled for a North American solo tour this spring in support of his recently released Just Roll Tape album on Rhino Records.”

Amplive stomped by Radiohead publishers Warner/Chappell

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“Holla at me, Thom,” says Oakland producer Amplive, regarding the cease and desist letter he received from Radiohead publishing company Warner/Chappell. The Bay Area DJ had put together a series of digital-only remixes based on In Rainbows in tribute to Radiohead and the recording. Titled Rainydayz Remixes, featuring Too $hort, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, and others, the recordings had gotten attention from Pitchfork and the New York Times. Rainydayz, for sure.

An Obama stunner

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Actually, not such a stunner — we all knew Obama had a hell of a political team in Iowa and was swimming in momentum. But this is a big deal — a state that’s about 90 percent white voted for a black candidate. A voice for change (that’s how he sells himself, anyway) won by ten points, suggesting that people in the nation’s heartland are impatient with the state of American politics. Obama will get a major bounce from this, which is a bit unfair because Iowa is such an unrepresentative state and the number of voters who go to the caucuses so small, but: The youth vote was huge, and that, as Kos points out, bodes well for the general election.

And while I’m still not ready to jump on the Obama bandwagon (I’m waiting for him to say something about taxing the rich and I’m not all that enthused with this theme of togetherness in America), this is an exciting moment.

And Hillary finished third. Rock on.

Rock out with the cockatoo out

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OK, the dancing bird is almost up to 1 million views: what does that say about YouTube viewers? Silly animal tricks slay ’em every time.

Iowa: What happened to Adlai Stevenson?

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By Bruce B. Brugmann, writing as a certified Rock Rapids, Iowa, Democrat and liberal

I called Dave Dietz just before the Iowa caucus vote to review a significant event in our political lives in the early l950s in Rock Rapids, Iowa.

The event was a speech in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota, by Adlai Stevenson, the former gentleman farmer from Bloomington, Illinois, who was running for president against Dwight Eisenhower. Dave and I had gone through school from kindergarten through high school and were probably about as political as anybody in our high school at that time. And so we jumped at the idea of going to hear Stevenson with my grandfather, C. C. Brugmann, who with my father were two of the only Democrats in our conservative northwestern Iowa town.

Stevenson gave a splendid speech that impressed us both. But it was his opening that we remember so clearly.

And they’re off

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Early results from the Iowa caucus — the first presidential poll that counts — show a tight pack, with Edwards leading, trailed closely by Clinton and Obama. It’s virtually a three-way tie and it could stay that way because nobody else really has any votes, so the Iowa provision of voters whose candidates get less than 15 percent of the vote getting to revote won’t matter much.
BTW, local Obama supporters are gathering in a few minutes over at Tosca in North Beach, so head on over if he’s your guy and you’re looking for kindred spirits.

Yucca Mt. bitch deadline: Jan. 10

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Known as Snake Mountain to the Shoshone, the Dept. of Energy wants to choke it with nuclear waste

Sharpen your pencils, folks. Only one week left to tell the government what you think about the plan to bury 70,000 metric tons of radioactive waste in a leaky tunnel in the middle of a sacred mountain in Nevada.

There are a number of frightening aspects to this plan, including the thirteen fault lines that run through the mountain, mounting evidence that radioactive waste in the repository could leak into the groundwater (only 90 miles northwest of Vegas,) and the fact that waste which is, for the most part, currently stored at the nuke plants where it’s used, would now be transported by rail and truck all over the country. Twenty-car pile-ups? Train derailments? Bridges collapsing? Yes, these things still happen, and even the Dept. of Energy anticipates between 150-400 accidents during the 20-30 year shipping period. Cool. Awesome.

Nevada’s citizens and leaders, native tribes and environmentalists, as well as the top three democratic party presidential candidates, have already expressed strong disapproval of the Yucca Mountain repository. And yet the project forges on. Send your thoughts to: EIS_Office@ymp.gov

or:

EIS Office U.S. Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Mgmt
1551 Hillshire Dr.
Las Vegas, NV, 89195-7308

Here’s some handy information and talking points, courtesy of Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth.

Will money win tonight in Iowa?

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B3 note: This is an important and timely “follow the money” report from the Center For Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. It makes a significant point: that even though there are 2,000 or so journalists covering the campaign in Iowa, and even though there is almost saturation media coverage, nobody can really follow the money.

As the report notes in section 3 below, “If money raised in Iowa is any indicator of popular support, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton will win their respective caucuses tonight. And in New Hampshire, it’ll be Romney and Barrack Obama. But remember that these figures represent fundraising thruogh Sept. 30 only. The fundraising and spending reports for October-December aren’t due to the Federal Election Commission until after the caucuses on Jan. 3l.” The best you can do to follow the money, as we learned to do from Deep Throat in the movie “All the President’s Men,” is to read this report and follow its advice on how to go further. Alas, that’s not good enough.
Congratulations to the Center for doing the best that can be done under current election reporting law. B3

CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS
MONEY-IN-POLITICS NEWS
January 3, 2008
tel: 202-857-0044, fax: 202-857-7809
editor@capitaleye.org
www.OpenSecrets.org
www.CapitalEye.org

WILL MONEY WIN TONIGHT IN IOWA?
Winning the Iowa caucuses takes organization and money, certainly, but the biggest spenders haven’t always won there. Howard Dean, Steve Forbes and Pat Robertson are just a few of the candidates who dumped money into the Hawkeye State with little to show for it. How much have the ’08 candidates spent to campaign in Iowa? Well, it’s hard to know. Using campaign finance reports, the best you can do is look at vendors’ addresses. But the biggest expenses, like for advertising, staff and travel, are often paid out to companies and individuals outside the state. In the first nine months of this campaign, the candidates reported spending more than $13 million with Iowa-based vendors. If the true cost of the Iowa effort were known, a single top-tier campaign might have spent that much alone — or more — in the state. As it is, Barack Obama’s reports detail about $2.6 million in Iowa expenditures from January through September, followed by Mitt Romney with about $2.4 million. By comparison, during the entire ’04 presidential election cycle, including the general election, the field of mostly Democratic candidates reported spending about $8.5 million in Iowa. Leading up to the caucuses that year, the field reported spending just $5.2 million, or 40 percent of this election’s reported spending.

*2008 presidential expenditures

SPORTS: Triple Brady = NFL blues

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By A.J. Hayes

New England quarterback Tom Brady grew up idolizing Joe Montana in the 1980s, but in 2008, the San Mateo native is primed to eclipse the former 49ers great in the boyhood dreams department.

Brady already has three Super Bowl rings and is a near lock to equal Joe in the championship jewelry department next month. The dashing Brady is also a favorite of fashion designers and beautiful women, including current squeeze, Victoria’s Secret model Giselle Bunchen.

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Then last Saturday night, three television networks did something that hasn’t occurred since Super Bowl I: They simulcast a single game — one of Brady’s.

But before you start believing every thing the San Mateo native touches turns to gold, the simulcast had less to do with Brady’s perfect spirals and dreamy looks and a whole lot more to do with the abysmal failure of the NFL Network.

IOWA: Our down to the wire report

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This down to the wire report was filed at 9:58 p.m. on Wednesday by Carolyn Schmidt, our ace citizen journalist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an election hot spot.

By Carolyn Schmidt

Cedar Rapids, Iowa–Obama is leading in the Register poll by a slight margin, but Huckabee and Romney are tied. It’s going to be down to the wire. Weather’s supposed to be calm–no more snow–with highs in the 20s, but people shouldn’t have any problems getting to the caucuses. Crowding and parking might be problems, but people will figure it out.

We had two campaign volunteers knock on our door New Years Day in the near-zero cold–supporters for Ron Paul and for Barak Obama. The Obama volunteer was a Coe student back early (classes don’t start for another week). Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Dodd, Romney, McCain, and Richardson all had rallies today in the Cedar Rapids area.

Although many of the candidates have had out-of-state volunteers come in for this final week or two, Hillary’s campaign seems to have amassed the largest number. According to yesterday’s Register, an army of Clinton volunteers–many of whom have flown in from Washington–logged 10,000 house calls and 8,500 phone conversations on Saturday alone.

Unhealthy San Francisco

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San Francisco city lawyers head back to court in the morning, trying to persuade the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside last week’s court ruling that the city can’t require employers to help pay for Healthy San Francisco. It’s disgraceful that the Golden Gate Restaurant Association challenged the employer mandate on this innovative plan to provide universal access to health care, the product of a compromise between Sup. Tom Ammiano and Mayor Gavin Newsom (a former GGRA member and the later beneficiary of the group’s political support).
But then again, there’s plenty of disgrace to go around here, and plenty of chances for San Francisco political leaders to fix the situation. You see, the judge ruled that the city plan violated the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which prohibits cities and states from demanding more of employers than the federal government has been willing to do. It’s similar to a federal law that prohibits California from enacting tougher fuel efficiency standards than the feds require. In both cases, the laws favor corporate profits and convenience over reasonable labor and environmental standards.
It’s probably not likely that the 9th Circuit will tomorrow rule that the city can make employers pay their fair share for Healthy San Francisco pending appeal. But the last time I checked, wasn’t the Speaker of the House from San Francisco? If the courts rule that good city and state policies keep running afoul of bad federal laws, maybe it time to do something about those bad federal laws. What do you say, Madame Speaker?

Who should run for Lantos’ seat?

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Newsom, Leno, Kopp — it’s a wide open field

The current field may not be thrilling, but potentially there are so many good choices.

Remember: Under the Constitution, you don’t actually have to live in the district to get elected to Congress (you just have to live in the state). And it would be easy for a lot of promeninent San Franciscans to move there, anyway. Let’s start the list:

Gavin Newsom. He’s not doing such a great job as mayor, but he’d be a fine member of Congress. It would get him out of town, let him hobnob with Washington society, Jen would love it … and if he won, Aaron Peskin would become mayor. Can’t beat that.

Or: Mark Leno. First openly gay member of Congress from the Bay Area. A lifetime job for a guy who loves politics and never wants to leave office. Instead of running against Carole Migden, he could be the class of the Congressional race.

Or: Peskin. What the hell; he’s termed out next year and has nothing to do. And just imagine him in Washington.

Or: Quentin Kopp. He’s not a young man, but he’s heathy and as energetic as ever — and even as a junior member, he’d put the fear of God in Nancy Pelosi.

Or: Matt Gonzalez. He could skip the primary, let the Dems all beat each other bloody then run in the general as a Green.

Who else? Let’s get the list going.

After Tom Lantos: The scramble

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Lantos, Speier, Yee: The mad rush is on

I’m sorry to hear that Rep. Tom Lantos has cancer, and I wish him well. But I’m very glad he’s leaving Congress; he was bad on the war and has been a foreigh-policy hawk for many years.

And now comes the scramble.

This is the first time since 1986 that a house seat has opened up in San Francisco. It’s a chance that comes along once in a lifetime for many politicians, and since it’s a safe Democratic district, whoever wins the primary in June will be almost guaranteed a seat in Congress for life.

Jackie Speier has already announced, and was prepared to take on Lantos. She instantly becomes the front runner. But I would be shocked if state Sen. Leland Yee didn’t jump in to the race, and I suspect there will be a few others joining the mad scramble.

There’s no obvious prominent progressive in the district, but let’s not write this one off yet.

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