The U.S. is playing a dangerous and disingenuous game in the Middle East, Syria’s ambassador to the U.S. Imad Moustapha said last night at the Commonwealth Club. Yet he remains hopeful that peace will eventually prevail in that troubled region, saying “we believe peace between the Arabs and Israelis is inevitable.”
But first, the Bush Administration needs to stop demonizing and refusing to engage with countries like Syria and Iran and with democratically elected factions like Hezbollah, and to stop hindering peace talks. He said the White House was the biggest barrier to Syria reaching a peace treaty with Israel, and he predicted the Middle East peace conference that the Bush Administration called for the end of November will be a failure, mostly because there has been no preliminary work done, unlike most peace conferences that are preceded by frenzied diplomatic efforts to set the agenda and talk about a framework for discussions.
“We don’t seriously believe that this is a peace conference that will lead to anywhere,” Moustapha said. “Forgive us if we deduce that this is only about a photo opportunity and about people in Washington, D.C., telling their electorate, ‘Look, don’t accuse us of only starting wars; we’re working for peace in the Middle East.’ “
SFBG Blogs
The Syrian perspective on American empire
Newsom keeps dropping
New election results are out, and Mayor Gavin Newsom’s winning percentage continues to drop. He’s gone from the high 70s in early returns to 68 percent now. Quintn Mecke is now in second place, with almost 8 percent, and Harold Hoogasian is in third with 6.5 percent. These numbers will change more, and probably not in Newsom’s favor: Although the results page says that 94 percent of the precincts have been counted, only about half of the mayoral votes are tallied so far. That’s because the counting machines don’t handle ranked-choice voting the way they’re supposed to, so unless a voter fills in three choices for mayor, the machine kicks the ballot out and it has to be hand counted.
So look at Newsom coming in with a final vote of less than 65 percent. It’s almost certain that he’ll get fewer votes than he did last fime around (although that was a tightly contested election.)
Prop. A continues to widen its margin of victory. Oddly, though, and quite inconsistent with my election-night proclamations, Prop. E, the question-time measure, is actually LOSING votes as the election-day precinct totals come in. That’s a surprise — typically progressive measures that lag in the absentee count pick up several points, and sometimes more, when the precincts are tallied.
It’s not over yet — there are still 40,000 more absentee votes out there.
Postal Service > Rolling Stones > Fallout Boy
The Washington Post’s website has good news for hipsters everywhere. After all these years of crying “sell out!” everytime a band – particularly an obscure, culty, indie band – lends a song to a TV commercial, music purists can now quantify exactly how much their act of choice has strayed from the path of righteousness.
It’s all thanks to the Moby Quotient calculator, named for the electronic artist (arguably) most famous for lending his songs for commercial endeavors (and subsequently making us all sick of them, and him). This simple, yet brilliant online calculator uses an equation that measures the disconnect between the product and rock’n’roll’s principles, the sacredness of the song, the origins of the band Are they a notoriously anti-establishment punk group? Or are they a boy band created by a reality show?), the artist’s artistic reputation, how much the artist needs the money, and how long it’s been since the artist’s heydey. This is, of course, all subjective, since readers rate the bands themselves and there’s no way to determine exactly how sacred John Lennon’s “Imagine” is, or how underground Imogen Heap is considered.
Rocket scientists have nothing on these mathematical geniuses.
In the grand tradition of Metal SpongeBob and Metal Cookie Monster
Cannibal Corpse really does cross all boundaries.
SF’s skatepark crisis
By Justin Juul
After attending SF360 Film+Club’s recent screening of Freedom of Space — a film about the harsh realities of enjoying an illegal sport– and then meeting some friends in a Safeway parking lot for a midnight skate-jam on some shitty ramps, the only thing I can say is: Why the fuck hasn’t anyone built a decent skatepark in this city?
All the elements have been present for over a decade: thousands of people who would come to a park if there was one, business owners who are sick of calling the cops on skateboarders, cops who are sick of wasting their time, and a huge base of high-profile companies like High Speed Productions (Thrasher, Slap, Juztapoz), DLX Distribution (Spitfire, Thunder, Anti-hero, etc.), FTC and Huf that could easily ante up some funds for a project. And why doesn’t SF have something like The Burnside Project in Portland? Are SF skaters just too lazy, or is there some force working against them? Rather than go off on an un-researched rant about the SF skate community not doing its job, I thought I’d talk to someone who’s been in the trenches for a while.
The Burnside Project in Portland
To find out more about the reality of SF’s skate park struggle I spoke to Rick Dinardo, Co-Founder of the Bay Area Skate-park Coalition.
SFBG: So Rick, my main question is: Why doesn’t San Francisco, the birth place of modern day street skating, have a decent park?
Rick Dinardo: Oh my god, how much time do you have? Before I get into it, though, you should realize that San Francisco finally is getting a good centrally-located skatepark. It’s going to be in Portrero Hill, right by the regular park that’s been there for years. As for why it’s taken the city 30 years to get off its ass and build one, well, that has to do with red tape, real estate, government corruption, lack of interest, and a whole lot of other bullshit, mostly money related.
SFBG: Well okay, I understand it’s difficult to get licenses and land and all that, but why haven’t all the huge skateboard companies, especially the ones that capitalize on their SF roots, why haven’t they gotten together and just fucking done the thing? It seems like they have enough money to at least fund a DIY project if not something as amazing as Rob Dyrdek’s deal in Kettering, Ohio.
Dinardo: First of all, I think you’re overestimating how much money these companies are making. These parks cost millions and millions of dollars, and that’s in places like Scott’s Valley where there is still open space for building. Land prices in SF are out of this fucking world. Whatever those companies chose to donate would be a drop in the bucket in a situation like this.
Also… I don’t think the companies you mentioned are very community oriented. I mean, this is capitalism we’re talking about, and they’re trying to make money, not sustain a community. I don’t think they care as much about supporting skateboarding in SF as they do about making the sport popular across the globe.
Feeling one’s bones with Ghostface Killah and co.
By Chris DeMento
One can’t help heaping expectations upon a show like this – the Nov. 2 appearance by Brother Ali, Ghostface, Rakim, and the Rhythm Roots Allstars at Mezzanine: three big-name emcees, a 10-piece backband, a sold-out venue. It turned out to be fairly low-key evening, what with all the civility, the smoky supplication of so many mature hip-hop fans.
Brother Ali opened with a lot of righteousness, hyped Rakim and Ghostface, validated himself, then closed with a very clean, very tight freestyle. Ghostface made the most of his well-recognized Fishscale material and turned out some welcome oldies: 30 seconds of “Daytona 500” satisfied a craving that had been gnawing at me ever since some asshole ate my Ironman disc like eight years ago. Likewise, Rakim’s third-act performance called up more memories for me: the fragment of “Mahogany” he played was a real treat, same with versions of other decades-old rhymes like “Microphone Fiend” and “Don’t Sweat the Technique.” I was sated, but I can’t say I was exactly inspired by the music. Despite the spot-on efforts of the Rhythm Roots Allstars, who did a thorough job of imagining all the live tracks for each of the three MCs, it sounded like the same old hip-hop you knew and loved – the same old hip-hop that you still know and love, but at a greater distance.
Not to say old is bad… just old. Ghostface himself asked the crowd how many thirty-somethings there were in attendance, and the crowd returned a roar that probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Then he encouraged all to remember the late ODB, taking pause to reflect on the “‘All I Got Is You’ days.” This sort of nostalgia helps preserve the history of the art form. Indeed, much of the show seemed suspended, freshly dipped (thanks to the band), in a glass jar of formaldehyde labeled “hip-hop classic.”
Mr. Fisher, kiss my pass!
Today’s Ammianoliner:
Muni fast pass? Prop H. Kiss my pass.
(From the answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano on Nov. 7, 2007, the day after the election and the report that Prop A on muni reform was winning (good good) and Fisher’s Prop H was losing (good, good).
Personal note to Tom: You did it. Your Ammianoliners saved the Muni, kept downtown safe from an overflow of cars, and showed the Gap’s Don Fisher who are the real populists in the neighborhoods. B3
Latest returns support Yes on A/No on H campaign
Guardian illustration by Danny Hellman, from our Oct. 31 cover story
The big story of this election was the improbable triumph of environmentalists over car culture and grassroots activism over downtown’s money, a story being played out in the likely approval of the Muni reform measure Prop. A and lopsided defeat of the pro-parking Prop. H.
The latest elections results show Prop. A extending its narrow election night lead to a seven point margin and Prop. H being rejected by almost 64 percent of voters, despite its poll-tested simplicity and big time backing from Don Fisher and other downtown conservatives.
As expected, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s election night high of 77.46 percent of the early absentee votes has fallen to 72.47 and will probably continue its downward trend, while progressive favorite Quintin Mecke is slowly climbing out of the electoral cellar to third place with 6 percent now, a trend also likely to continue. Harold Hoogasian has 6.83 percent and Wilma Pang dropped to 5.6 – expect both to keep falling.
Prop. E, the question time measure where Newsom invested all his political capital trying to defeat, could still go either way: 48.7 percent say yes and 51.3 percent no. That will be a big test of whether Newsom has any political pull at all, capping off a string of electoral failures since he took office.
But as I said, the big story is the Yes on A/No on H campaign, which threw a jubilant party at the El Rio last night.
Water trumps Bush
What does it take to override a wartime Republican president’s veto? Water, apparently.
Thirty five years ago, facing a rising tide of discontent over polluted water, Congress overrode d Nixon’s veto of the October 15, 1972 Clean Water Act. As a result, municipalities were able to apply for federal funds to help build and improve their local sewage treatment plants, and water got cleaner, as a result.
Yesterday, facing a mounting tide of discontent over global warming and rising sea level are real, Congress (unable to end the war or provide health care for kids,) united to reject Bush’s veto of the Water Resources Development Act.
As a result, 900 water projects will receive federal funds, including restoration in the Florida Everglades and the replacement on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers of locks that farm groups say are crucial for shipping grain.
Here in California, the Act authorizes $1.3 billion for 54 projects, including $106 million to strengthen the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levees—a shoring-up project that has profound implications for San Francisco Bay.
As Will Travis of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission told me this week, one of the central questions now facing this region is, ‘How do we build around a Bay that we know is going to get bigger, but we don’t yet know by how much?
“It’s a bit like seismic safety,” Travis said, noted that the 8-year plan that BCDC is proposing is just a proposal.
“It’s the beginning of a long conversation,” Travis explained. ” What’s not in that proposal yet is how the federal agencies and the business sector and the research facilities and laboratories fit in.”
Travis also admitted that this conversation could be “a struggle.”
“The first reaction of most people when they realize that sea level is rising and that we have a lot of extensive development on low lying areas around the Bay is, ‘Run for the hills!’”
“And that’s a reasonable course, until you realize the implications in an estuary that is the most urbanized in the United States,” added Travis, who believes that what’s needed is “a more nuanced approach.”
Part of that approach, suggests Travis, may involve some counter intuitive steps.
“In some places, we may see the encouragement of more development along the waterfront so we can use the economic engine to protect that development—and the low-lying areas behind it. That’s where it’s going to get interesting.”
As a harbinger of what’s to come, consider the battle that is breaking out over 1,400 acres that Cargill owns in Redwood City. Save the Bay and other environmental groups are urging Cargill to abandon plan to build homes on those acres, while Cargill is committed to developing those lands, and Redwood City is trying to decide what to do.
Fun, huh?
SF sues its elections vendor
San Francisco may have to wait weeks for election results and undergo an complicated ballot-counting procedure, but we may not end up having to pay for it. That’s because the city is suing its election vendor, ES&S, for breach for contract, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and other city officials announced this morning. His press release follows:
Newsom’s party
By David Crockett
In what was maybe the least surprising news story since that guy from ‘N Sync announced he was gay, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom seemed headed for an easy reelection, even with the sparse returns on election night, when he and his supporters gathered at the Ferry Building.
“The best is yet to come,” Newsom told his followers, at the beginning and end of his speech, adding, “As great as we are, we can still be so much more.”
Porter Wagoner RIP: Death of a country showman
By Erik Morse
Grand Ole Opry mainstay and sartorial icon Porter Wagoner, one half of the great duet Porter and Dolly team, died of lung cancer in Nashville on Oct. 28 just days before Halloween.
The country musician was the epitome of the “hard workin’ man,” whose declining health in recent years failed to sideline a career that continued to entertain young and old through 50 years at the Opry. In addition to the critically received comeback Wagonmaster (Anti), a darkly psychedelic album released this summer, Wagoner made a one-time appearance in July at Madison Square Garden opening for the White Stripes. On his death bed he was surrounded by family, musicians and friends, and his one-time singing partner Dolly Parton. According to an Associate Press article, Opry vice president and general manager Pete Fisher said of Wagoner: “His passion for the Opry and all of country music was truly immeasurable.” Wagoner’s funeral ceremony was appropriately at the Grand Ole Opry House this past week.
Much like another recent passing musician, Lee Hazlewood, whose incredible career was often reduced to a footnote in the rise of partner Nancy Sinatra, Wagoner was similarly touted as the man who discovered Parton in the late 1960s. In truth, his work in country-western extended to the post-WW II days of Louvin Brothers-style folk with a local Missouri band, the Blue Ridge Boys, and on TV’s Ozark Jubilee.
Coheed and Cambria heed the “Alien” call
By Ben Richardson
November is upon us, and cult prog-emo masterminds Coheed and Cambria (Coheed for short) play the Warfield this week, touring behind their new album, Good Apollo, I’m a Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (take that, Fiona Apple). The album – their fourth – serves as the concluding chapter in a sweeping back-story that has served as the fundament for the entire Coheed catalog, which chronicles the abstruse adventures of a pair of put-upon intergalactic badasses, “Coheed” and “Cambria.”
Hearing Coheed for the first time is a divisive experience, and I’ll confess that without something specific to latch onto I would have written them off based on the singing alone. Frontperson Claudio Sanchez favors a dulcet falsetto that often elicits comparisons to Geddy Lee, the similarly polarizing vocalist of Rush, and I was lucky to stumble upon a track on their first release that enabled me to allay my falsetto fears and gradually learn to appreciate Sanchez’s high-register crooning. The track is called “Delirium Trigger,” and it begins with this verse:
We’re now / Up here alone / Terror on the intercom / Can someone save us?
Systems malfunction / Blast it this damn machine / Over and out captain.
Something lurks / Creeps on the counter top / Somewhere behind you
Parasitic cyst / I can’t stand to watch / It’s coming up and out of your chest.
These lyrics combine with an eerie, plaintive 6/8 groove to create an atmosphere of dread, and, on the strength of that last line, start to sound a hell of a lot like the original cast recording of Alien: The Musical. As a huge fan of the Ridley Scott movie and its attendant sequels, I found my attention immediately piqued. Sure, the whole chest-bursting thing was a little derivative, but if you’re going to crib, shouldn’t you crib from the best?
The Plant ‘n’ Krauss Show: Makes good listening!
By Todd Lavoie
Bet you didn’t see this one coming. I sure as hell didn’t, not even in my wildest music-nerd tag-team reveries. Yep, I might’ve floated off into la-la land over the what-ifs and fancy-thats of pairing such unlikelies as PJ Harvey/Del tha Funkee Homosapien or Dolly Parton/Spiritualized or even Bryan Ferry/CocoRosie, but somehow I’d never gotten around to scratchin’ my noggin over what would happen if Robert Plant and Alison Krauss ended up in the same studio for a patch of time. Somehow a Neko Case/D’Angelo collab seems like a perfectly reasonable expectation from your humble Guardian blogger, but a meet-up between the sweetest voice in bluegrass-pop and Mr. Banshee-Wail himself? Ah, that’s just crazy.
Or is it? Call it a lark, call it a sign of the apocalypse, call it a coup for the rest of us, but one of the greatest who’da thunks of our time has arrived: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss recently released Raising Sand (Rounder), and it’s breathtaking. No kidding. It’s almost as if they’ve always worked together – yep, it’s that good.
Much of the credit should be given to producer T-Bone Burnett, he of the miracle sepia-tone touch, the man behind the rustic charms and warm glows of Gillian Welch’s Revival (Acony), Elvis Costello’s King of America (Columbia), and the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack (Mercury). (And no, don’t let that last one put you off. Sure, maybe you too found yourself maxed-out on the banjo-and-holler-fest after every single coffeehouse and café played the sweet holy hell outta that thing back in 2000 and 2001, but enough time has passed to be able to listen again with a fresh pair of ears. Go on, give it a play. It really is a marvel.)
The Yes on A victory
Lots of celebration at the Yes on A/No on H party at El Rio. Robert Haaland, who ran the field campaign, was justifiably exuberant — the passage of A and defeat of H, which appears all but certain, was a demonstration that even in a low-turnout election, progressives can prevail. The labor-and-environmental-backed campaign did an extensive absentee-voter effort, extensive get-out-the-vote and effective mail. It helped that Sup. Aaron Peskin helped raise more than $400,000 for the battle.
Peskin said the results were a great victory for the battle against global warming, which is true — but it was also a victory for the president of the board — and for the idea that policy in San Francisco remains centered at the Board of Supervisors.
The polls that political consultants rely on show that the board’s popularity is low compared to the mayor — but on the ground, where it mattered, that wasn’t the case tonight.
Low, low turnout
The traditional wisdom is the the progressives lose in low-turnout races — and turnout here looks terrible. John Arntz, the elections director, says it looks like 26 percent turnout, only around 100,000 votes. And yet, on the key progressive measures, we’re doing really well.
More from City Hall
Gavin Newsom has obviously won re-election, although we don’t know his total yet. But the other winners tonight are Aaron Peskin and Chris Daly.
Peskin’s Prop. A is an almost certain winner — it’s ahead 51-49 in the absentees and that’s the most conservative of the votes, so it will win handily. His Prop K, the measure limit new billboards, is winning, too, overwhelmingly (60-40).
What this means is that Peskin defeated a rather vicious campaign by Don Fisher to smear him and the Board of Supervisors; in fact, the attacks on the Board didn’t seem to work. And the measure Newsom and his allies really wanted to stop — Daly’s Question Time — is behind by only two points, and will more than likely win. Again, the Newsom campaign was an attack on the supervisors, particularly Daly — and it doesn’t appear to have worked.
Results — big surprise!
Early results are in, and the mayor’s race is no real surprise — Gavin Newsom’s at 77 percent, which is just the absentees, and that will drop. But the big news: In the very conservative absentees, Prop. A is just slightly behind — and Prop. H is actually LOSING. That’s over, and it’s over big — in the most important race for progressives, it looks like a clear and convincing victory. You can take this one to the bank — Don Fisher has lost, big, and Prop A, the competing transit measure, has won.
The other big surprise: Prop. E, the measure that wll require — and I said WILL require — Gavin Newsom to appear before the Board of Supervisors for “question time” looks like it’s going to pass. So Newsom wins — but he’s going to have to answer to his critics.
Will Ammianoliners defeat Don Fisher?
Transit first does not mean valet parking. Vote no on H.
(From the answering machine of Sup. Tom Ammiano, on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007.)
Scroll down for more Ammianoliners on the Gap’s Don Fisher and his onslaught against good planning, neighborhood integrity, and common sense. The question is tantalizing: will the Ammianoliner beat Don Fisher? Will the Ammianoliner get the proper credit? Stay tuned. B3
Newsom’s guy touts the Guardian
Eric Jaye, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s campaign manager, was quoted by C. W. Nevius in today’s Chronicle as saying,
“However many votes we get, we know the Bay Guardian will say it wasn’t enough.” He’s right. B3
Who’s endorsing whom? A guide
You’re probably already acquainted with the Guardian’s 2007 endorsements for the Nov. 6 elections — but what about the city’s other hot and steaming political bodies (yes, that sounded dirty). Below are endorsements from other groups, from the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club to the San Francisco Tenants Union. (All files below are PDFs.)
Nuke tracker…just what I needed!
From the good folks over at the Union of Concerned Scientists, this is the coolest tool ever for tracking the oops I did it again spills at our nation’s nuclear power plants. Plus, there are deets on all the plants-to-be, now that — wipe the sweat off your brows, people — nuclear power is going to save us from global warming!
Mandate watch
The question of the day, of course, is What’s the Number? What percentage of the votes does Gavin Newsom get, and what does that mean?
The last time a mayor of San Francisco had such weak opposition was in 1983, when Dianne Feinstein ran all-but unopposed. It was a bleak time in the city, with the mayor openly selling the city to developers and the left lacking a contender who could take her on. Feinstein had just crushed a batty recall effort by a finger group of leftist gun nuts called the White Panther Party.; the White Panthers were mad that Feinstein had singed a bill controlling handguns in the city. The recall lost overwhelmingly, and left Feinstein appearing unbeatable.
Newsom isn’t in quite the same position; there are actually some candidates who have a bit of traction. The progressives are way better organized than we were in 1983 – and this race has a lot more, well, character.
I think Steve Jones is pretty much on point; I’ll go a step further. Let’s assume that 100,000 people vote; it may be a bit more, but I think 120,000 is tops. Say Quintin Mecke, the progressive front-runner, gets 15,000 votes, or 15 percent – not an unreasonable guess. He’s been working hard, had Chris Daly’s endorsement, and has a lot of boots on the street. I say Chicken John gets 10 percent anyway; he’s got a solid base in the artist/counterculture/weirdo community, and that’s a significant number of people. Between them, Ahimsa Sumchai and Josh Wolf get maybe 7,000 votes. Harold Hoogasian is the only Republican in the race, and has great name recognition because of his flower business; besides, the people who think Newsom is too liberal will vote for Hoogasian. That’s got to be worth 3,000 votes. So that’s already 35 percent – and there are quite a few other candidates who will pick up a few hundred votes here and there. By the time the counting is finished, Newsom may be stuck around 60 percent – hardly a stunning victory.
Election night parties
Start the night off at the Bay Guardian’s “Don’t Dodge the Drafts” party at Doc’s Clock, 2575 Mission Street, between 21st and 22nd Streets, from 7-9 p.m. Music and drink specials for attendees who bring their “I voted” sticker or ballot stub.
Right next door at 12 Galaxies, mayoral candidate Chicken John Rinaldi will be throwing his “Loser’s Ball” election night party. He hasn’t made many details available, but knowing Chicken, expect the evening’s most fun and unconventional party.
Most parties start at 8 p.m., hit a premature climax at 8:30 when absentee results (the only numbers of the evening due to state-mandated manual ballot checks) are announced then continue well into the evening, to varying degrees. Some of the parties:
· Quintin Mecke for Mayor: Peacock Lounge, 552 Haight Street
· Yes on A/No on H: El Rio, 3158 Mission Street
· Gavin Newsom for Mayor: Ferry Building, Embarcadero at Market Street
· Kamala Harris for DA: Tosca Café, 242 Columbus