Enough of Bush’s war: Pelosi needs to let impeachment proceed. A Guardian editorial
Media moguls get cozier: Hearst and Dean Singleton say there’s no illegal deal — but just look at the evidence by G.W. Schulz
SFBG Blogs
Migden and Ammiano
By Tim Redmond
Well, within a few minutes after my blog on Mark Leno and Carole Migden was posted, Eric Potashner, Migden’s aide and political advisor, called me to say that Migden has endorsed Tom Ammiano for state Assembly and to poo-poo all the talk of a heated Leno-Migden race, which he says he isn’t worried about.
Okay, I believe him. But he should be worried, because it’s real — and unless the term-limits law is modified, I see Leno wanting to go for it.
Anyway, I just got back from the Haight Asbury Neighborhood Council post-election forum, where another fascinating wild-ass scenario was floated: Suppose Migden does the math and decides that she has a better chance running against Gavin Newsom than she does defending her Senate seat against Mark Leno?
After a member of the audience floated her name in the mayoral sweepstakes, Calvin Welch, who has been watching local politics for a very long time, pointed out that Migden is extremely smart — and not afraid to make a bold political decision.
I don’t exactly see it, but it’s a very strange world out there right now.
Leno v. Migden: The mind reels
By Tim Redmond
Well, the info I picked up last night was a bit off; Matier and Ross haven’t run anything yet on the poll Mark Leno has done to evaluate his chances in a possible race against Carole Migden for state Senate in 2008.
But word about the race is all over town. The BAR checked in today with a story by Matthew S. Bajko discussing the race and quoting Leno confirming that he’ll make a decision early in 2007. Bajko suggests that the race
“would almost certainly reopen old wounds not only between the formerly close allies but also between the city’s two LGBT Democratic clubs. The clubs came down on different sides in the bitterly contested Leno-Britt race, and it took several years for the clubs to improve their relationship. The race also soured Migden and Leno’s relationship; Migden had backed Britt as her choice to replace her in the Assembly.”
I’m not so sure it breaks down that simply. Leno is now much more popular with the left-leaning Harvey Milk LGBT Club than he was five years ago, and Migden is, frankly, a bit hard to define politically these days. I think there would be progressives on both sides of this one, and the LGBT community would be split along unusual lines.
Only about half the district is in San Francisco, and the rest in in Marin and Sonoma counties, where Leno is almost unknown (and where politics, while heavily Democratic, tend to be a bit less liberal than SF). So both candidate will have to establish some moderate credentials.
But in the end, the left in San Francisco will play a key, perhaps decisive role in the race. And it’s anybody’s guess how that plays out in the end.
For example, let’s take a wild (and unlikely) scenario: Leno is clearly supporting Mayor Gavin Newsom. Suppose a left-identified candidate like Matt Gonzalez takes on Newsom — and Migden decides to join up against the mayor. How many of Leno’s left allies does that peel off?
Another wild card: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is pushing a measure that would modify Leigslative term limits, perhaps to allow 12 years of service in any one house. Now think about this: If (as expected) the Legislature moves the California presidential primary to early 2008, but leaves the remaining state primaries in June (and that’s the likely scenario right now), Nunez’s measure could be on a January, 2008 ballot — and if it passes, Leno could then file to run again for his Assembly seat in June. (And I think he would; Leno doesn’t have his heart set on the state Senate right now. He just loves politics, and doesn’t want to be out of office.)
Which would mean Leno wouldn’t run against Migden — but would also mean that Sup. Tom Ammiano, who has announced he will seek Leno’s seat, would be SOL.
Of course, if the Nunez plan fails, and Leno runs against Migden, since Leno will then support Ammiano for the Assembly seat, perhaps Migden recruits a candidate (Chris Daly?) to run against Ammiano. Which would really not be pretty.
But hey: Maybe Bush and Cheney will be impeached, making Nancy Pelosi the president, and Leno can run for her Congressional seat. Wheee.
Leno v. Migden: The Poll
By Tim Redmond
Look for Matier and Ross to report on the Chronicle tomorrow (Thursday) that Mark Leno’s team has taken a poll on how he would fare in a challenge against Carole Migden for state Senate in 2008.
The poll, I’m told, was encouraging to the Leno camp. The Assemblyman will make up his mind in January, but I’m getting the strong sense that this is going to be a go.
And what a political free-for-all it will be.
‘Problem with AK-47s is they explode in the abdomen. Basically, a bomb went off in his tummy.’
By G.W. Schulz
The Chronicle on Sunday launched its lengthy four-part series on the San Francisco General Hospital with the threaded narrative of a 14-year-old boy who was shot in his mid-section by an assault rifle last spring and appeared at the trauma center with seemingly little hope of remaining alive.
In 2001, the boy’s father had been killed by gunfire just a short distance away in the Hunters Point housing project where they lived. After a brief stint in juvenile hall for general teen trouble following his dad’s killing, the Chron’s Mike Weiss reported, the boy’s behavior had begun to improve before he, too, was gunned down for reportedly tossing a water balloon at a friend that accidentally splashed the wrong person.
Weiss then recounts in stunning detail what it took for SF General to put the boy’s guts back together – he barely managed to survive after several surgeries.
The Chron quotes a surgeon:
“‘Problem with AK-47s is they explode in the abdomen. Basically, a bomb went off in his tummy.'”
The photo leading the Chron’s story that day depicted the boy splayed out on a gurney, naked, with an oxygen mask attached to his face. The intent of the Chron’s pieces was to focus on life inside the nationally recognized hospital and the resources it takes to sustain the city’s only trauma center. The names of both the boy and his father are not revealed by the paper.
Taking on Tauscher
By Tim Redmond
Ellen Tascher, the conservative East Bay Democrat, is under fire all over the web and there are signs that she will face a primary challenge next year.
Robert Haaland has a good line on why she’s already in trouble with progressive Dems. A district to watch.
Bears in jell-o! Female bears!
OK OK I know we’re giving the bears a lot of play lately in the clubs section, but the whole bear nightlife thing is truly a phenomenon. There’s all these bear clubs now! Too bad the music lames, in my book — all kinda hi-nrg circuity, but I guess that’s kind of run-off from the whole “we’re fat but macho!” thing. (Fact: bears are big girls. That’s what I love about them. They’re so cute! I’ve slept with ever so many… )
So yes, the big (hahahaha) bear club is Bearracuda and now the extra-machowannabes of the universe — and wonderful, at that. these are hot athletes— SF FOG RUGBY is hosting this weekend. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
The Fog invades Bearracuda on Saturday, December 16th @ The Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin at Turk. DJs Underdog and Polar Bear will be spinning tunes. $6 gets you in, with part of the proceeds from the door going to the SF Fog. $2.75 drafts, free massages, rugby players and bears! Festivities run from 10pm to 3am.
Public Power in Jeopardy?
By Sarah Phelan
In the mood for some political fireworks? Head to Dec. 12 meeting of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. A renewable public power project at Hunters Point that has the blessing of the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal and District 10 Sup. Sophie Maxwell is said to be experiencing opposition from none other than PUC Board President Richard Sklar.
You’d have to be brave to risk being the Man who would stand between Public Power and the Bayview, but Sklar who came to the city from Cleveland in the 1970s, has a history of clashing with the mayors who appoint him, starting with then Mayor Dianne Feinstein when she made him SFPUC General Manager.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, by the end of that tenure, Feinstein and Sklar were feuding over everything from the Muni to high-rise development, with Feinstein calling Sklar “arrogant,’ and Sklar calling her a “lightweight”.
Public Power in Jeopardy?
By Sarah Phelan
In the mood for some political fireworks? Head to Dec. 12 meeting of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. A renewable public power project at Hunters Point that has the blessing of the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal and District 10 Sup. Sophie Maxwell is said to be experiencing opposition from none other than PUC Board President Richard Sklar.
You’d have to be brave to risk being the Man who would stand between Public Power and the Bayview, but Sklar who came to the city from Cleveland in the 1970s, has a history of clashing with the mayors who appoint him, starting with then Mayor Dianne Feinstein when she made him SFPUC General Manager.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, by the end of that tenure, Feinstein and Sklar were feuding over everything from the Muni to high-rise development, with Feinstein calling Sklar “arrogant,’ and Sklar calling her a “lightweight”.
Leno vs. Migden in 2008? Maybe
By Tim Redmond
This is still at the early whisper stages, but there are a number of people urging Mark Leno to run for state Senate against fellow Democrat Carole Migden in 2008 — and the word is that Leno is actively considering it.
Talk about wild campaigns.
Both are formidable fundraisers and good campaigners, both have had strong bases of support in the city — but Leno seems to be more on the political upswing these days. He’s was just re-elected easily, has few visible enemies in town, and is chairing the powerful Appropriations Committee. Migden angered some local progressives with her strong support of Steve Westly for governor over Phil Angelides (although she can certainly argue that the outcome of the election lends credence to her claim that Westly had a better chance of beating Schwarzenegger).
Leno and Migden have never been best pals; Migden supported former Sup. Harry Britt against Leno in the often bitter 2002 Assembly primary.
Migden’s a fighter; a primary challenge wouldn’t be easy. But the fact that it’s even under discussion suggests that Leno thinks there is some dissatisfaction with the incumbent.
Keep an eye on this one.
Status quo
By Steven T. Jones
Just in case you thought Mayor Gavin Newsom wasn’t trying to fool the public by announcing his intention to do town hall meetings as a substitute for meeting with the Board of Supervisors, as voters called for in Prop. I, here’s a link to photos from the eight previous town hall meetings that he’s held. Political theater indeed.
There’s nothing like the NY Post
By Tim Redmond
I’m so happy that the New York Post is finally printing in San Francisco. There’s just nothing like it in this country. The front page of the Dec. 7th issue, containing a report on the Iraq Study Group, has pictures of the faces of Baker and Hamiliton pasted onto monkeys’ faces with the headline:
“Surrender Monkeys: Iraq panel urges U.S. to give up”
There really nothing in the story inside to justify that headline (although I wish there was; giving up at this point doesn’t seem like such a terrible option, compared to all the others) but the Post doesn’t care. It’s a great cover, making a political point.
Now why can’t the supposedly “liberal” dailies act like this?
NOISE: Crash! The Coup’s bus flips
Our best wishes go out to the Coup and Mr. Lif, who were in a frightening bus crash on Dec. 2. The Bay Area hip-hop band’s vehicle flipped and caught fire in Imperial, Calif., at 3:50 a.m. after a Friday night performance at the House of Blues. Now the Coup may have to cancel the rest of its tour with Lif.
Boots in better times. Credit: Alexander Warnow
Epitaph issued a press release stating: All occupants managed to get off of the bus before it became engulfed in flames and were transported to El Centro Regional Medical Center. However, Silk-E, Mr. Lif’s DJ, Wiz, the group’s bus driver, Glenn, incurred severe injuries requiring them to be flown to hospitals in San Diego and Palm Springs. Silk-E suffered several broken ribs and a punctured lung and Wiz suffered a deep laceration to the head and a broken leg.
More on Hearst and MediaNews
By G.W. Schulz
We confirmed earlier this week through court records that Hearst and MediaNews are continuing their business relationship with plans to purchase the Daily Breeze in Southern California for $25 million. The Breeze itself confirmed the news with its own story a few days ago.
Word of the deal surfaced in court records filed last week in Clint Reilly’s civil suit against Hearst, MediaNews and others alleging anti-competition. We’ll have more on this story coming up in a couple of days in the Guardian. There’s a whole lot going on here and it’s happening fast.
Meanwhile, cheers to Chronicle reporter Mike Weiss for the first in a four-part series about the day-to-day operations of San Francisco General Hospital published in the paper today. The lead installment contained a gripping look at the hospital’s trauma center and puts a microscope on the tragedy of gun violence in the city.
The paper has unfortunately buried some of its very good recent coverage of homicides in the East Bay, and a closer look at just how brutal gunshot wounds are and how they effect San Francisco was much desired. Knowing so many people at General are fiercely committed to treating poor patients, too, makes you pretty damn proud to be a San Franciscan. But the hospital could still face closure in a few years if we don’t meet some tough state standards for earthquake preparedness.
Poor, poor Ms. Conroy
By Tim Redmond
The way The Examiner’s Ken Garcia is putting it, the San Francisco supervisors did a terrible thing to cut funding for the new job that Mayor Newsom created for Annemarie Conroy.
Poor, poor Annemarie, who won’t get her $185,000-a-year job going to meetings that she used to go to anyway in her previous job, which she did so badly she had to be demoted from it.
Garcia quotes Newsom saying “Politics is one thing, but when you go out of your way to take away someone’s livelihood, then it’s purely spiteful.”
Come on.
Conroy is a lawyer who worked for a high-powered downtown firm before she became a supervisor. She’s eminently employable. She’s not going to miss any meals just because the supervisors decided, properly, that this is a patronage post that does nothing for the taxpayers who are footing the bill.
Newsom insisted when he was first running that all this Willie-Brown-style nonsense was over. And yet, it continues — and now he whines when he gets caught.
NOISE: I’ll be your mirror… for a major outlay of cash
supposedely some guy bought it for like 75 cents and Saturn records is assisting in the selling of the record.
http://cgi.ebay.com/VELVET-UNDERGROUND-NICO-1966-Acetate-LP-ANDY-WARHOL_W0QQitemZ300054910309QQcmdZViewItem
NOISE: Grammy noms…or nattering nabobs of nonsense?
The 49th Grammy nominations have been announced, and can we get a witness — despite the feisty, principled stance by the Dixie Chicks and the continuing wonder of Mary J. Blige, are the Grammys still too hidebound and geriatric to really… matter?
Gnarlsome twosome.
I mean, we all pay attention to it, we’ve all been griping about it since the beginning of time — but James Blunt, record of the year? Corinne Bailey Rae is cute n’all, but isn’t Gnarls Barkley a complete shoo-in for this award? More nattering to come, for sure.
Newsom’s glass jaw
By Steven T. Jones
Just as my latest story on Mayor Gavin Newsom’s prospects for reelection was going to press, he issued a letter that reinforced the very traits that have caused people to sour on him. Namely, that he’s disengaged, unnecessarily divisive and political, out-of-touch, risk-averse, and just not up to the job of being a big city mayor. The letter concerns Prop. I, which 56.36 percent of San Franciscans approved, saying they want the mayor to “appear in person at one regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Supervisors each month to engage in formal policy discussions with members of the Board.” Note that language, because it’s important in understanding the cowardly bait-and-switch that Newsom’s letter tries to perpetrate on the public.
Snovocaine! Even MORE Holiday drink ideas
From the wobbly pen of Jonathan Beckhardt …
Batten down the hatches! When it’s too dreary to even think of leaving your apartment, curl up with one of these from the Bay Area’s mixiest minds.
The Snovocaine
Crack out this variation on the Liquid Cocaine by bartenders Eric Zsolnay of Kuleto’s Trattoria and Leon Vitakes of Holas, both in Burlingame, at your next Santa-roast (serves 2):
1 oz Bacardi 151
1 oz Goldshlager
2 oz Gin
2 oz half & half
3/4 oz Jagermeister
1 cup of ice
1/4 lemon squeezed
maraschino cherry juice
3 splashes of soda water
To sing like a mockingbird: A conversation with Nathaniel Dorsky
In conjunction with an upcoming screening at San Francisco Cinematheque, Nathaniel Dorsky recently discussed his ideas and work with fellow filmmaker Michelle Silva of Canyon Cinema; Canyon is the sole distributor of Dorsky’s exquisite personal films, which are not available on video.
A shorter version of this interview, with introductory notes, can be found within this week’s issue of the Guardian.
Michelle Silva: First I want to ask about your recent book Devotional Cinema. I think it’s some of the most thoughtful and introspective writing on the human experience of cinema and the physical properties we share with the medium — such as our internal visual experience, metaphor, and the art of seeing. What’s great about the book is that it’s accessible to people who aren’t well versed in cinema, but who might be interested in a deeper understanding of their own senses.
Nathaniel Dorsky: The basic ideas for the book were originally formulated because I was hired to teach a course on avant-garde film at UC Berkeley for a semester. I didn’t want to teach a survey course on avant-garde cinema; I didn’t think I could do that with real enthusiasm, I thought it would be a little flat. I decided that what was most interesting to me about avant-garde film — or at least the avant-garde films that I found most interesting — was a search for a language which was purely a filmic language.
Still from Nathaniel Dorsky’s film Threnody
Not something limited to film, but a purely filmic language that also had human value to it. There are various filmmakers who’ve explored human cinema language, or cinema human language, which is something other than using film to replicate a written language form, whether it be the novel or the poem. I was interested in something that was actually intrinsic to the nature of cinema, expressive as cinema, and at the same time expressive of our human needs and human worth.
Did someone say “meaty-nog”? Neat-o holiday drinks
Tipsy-minded intern Jonathan Beckhardt pulled together some drink recipes for the season ….
For Jews, the only thing worse than getting so lost in moments of extreme immorality that you start begging Jesus for forgiveness, is drinking eggnog. I asked Rabbi Greenfield about this cultural development in the diaspora. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Jon” said the learned man. I guess, but at the Beckhardt house, there are only two things grandpa cracks out the belt for: checking out gentiles and the aforementioned eggnog sin. Fortunately, I’ve been cast aside from my family and can now fearlessly experiment with Christian Spiritualism. Thus, I now embark on a new era of enjoyment with these recipes to guide me.
The smell is over
By Tim Redmond
Well, SF Gate reports tonight that the cookie ads on bus shelters have been scrapped. Amazing it even got this far.
More cookie madness
By Tim Redmond
The more I think about this cookie-odor thing, the worse it sounds. There’s some real agitiation out there from people who are allergic to or offended by chemical odors, and who rely on public transit. All the way out in Milwaukee, they have heard about this and think it’s a dumb idea.
What I really want to know, and can’t find out, is exactly what chemicals are in the odiferous strips that will be attached to the bus shelters.
I called Maggie Lynch, the spokesperson for Muni, and asked her; she said she was trying to find out. But as of today, all she could tell me was that the ingredients that will assault our nostrils are “an FDA-appreoved food product” and “a widely used flavoring in hundreds of food items.” That sound pretty innocent, but frankly, a lot of what the FDA says is okay for food is kind of nasty stuff.
The difference is that people can choose to buy organic food without FDA-approved chemicals. They can’t choose to ignore the cookie odor at the bus shelters. This is an infringement on public space in the worst kind of way: People rely on Muni. It’s not an optional experience.
As the very least, the supervisors need to demand a full list of the chemical compounds that this ad campaign will release into the shelter air. Better yet, let’s just ban the whole idea.
Got piss?
By G.W. Schulz
I can’t decide what’s creepier. The fact that an advertising firm has made a bus stop smell like cookies to promote milk, or the fact that said advertising campaign has itself become an ongoing news story. Yesterday, the Examiner made the geniuses behind the campaign into a news item. Ever wonder what all those douchebags who fill the Mission on the weekends do for a day job? This is it. Maybe tomorrow, Matier & Ross can analyze how the contrived smell of cookies mingles with the smell of a piss-soaked downtown alley. Nothing is sacred and nothing is off limits when you work in marketing and advertising.