November 2005 Archives

I just found out about this cool art show at UC Berkeley, featuring the work of a family friend who is a very talented painter and sculptor. Alas, it is at a gallery that is only open during the week, so only East Bay and/or nonworking people get to enjoy it. Which they should go do, because, like I said, it sounds and looks really cool.

From the artist's statement:

The image in the announcement is the back of one of a group of ceramic books with imaginary stories,
partially illustrated in bas-relief.  The fronts, spines, and pages are all very book-like.  All but one of them have titles which are either transliterated into Russian script, or translated into or from Italian, French, or Portuguese.

Though these books have no text, they have much in common with the objects they represent: each of them presents an image that is intended to be familiar, but just outside the direct realm of experience. Together they represent the notion that though communication through the written word is the primary mission of most books, the story is never the only thing they tell. 

Lesley spotted this peculiar holiday shelving arrangement last night as we were strolling around Target...Candles? Check. Menorah? Check. But...

 

 

Round-up weed killer?!?!? WTF??!?!

 

Some anecdotal evidence that the housing market may be tipping ever-so-slightly back towards the buyer: the postcard we just received from Coldwell Banker.

The pictures on the card are the normal stuff such mailings are made of — the photo of the house, a cheerful shot of the realtor.

The text, on the other hand...

CHARMING TRADITIONAL LISTED BY SCOTT!!!!

CALL SCOTT TO LIST & SELL YOUR HOME TODAY!!

CALL SCOTT FOR A FREE MARKET VALUE ANALYSIS!!

CALL SCOTT FOR A FREE "30 DAY" MARKETING PLAN!!

CALL SCOTT FOR A FREE PROFESSIONAL STAGING & RESULTS!!

CALL SCOTT FOR A FREE 1 YEAR SELLER'S HOME WARRANTY!!

CALL SCOTT TO LIST & SELL YOUR HOME TODAY!!

          $699,000         $699,000

 

 

 

SCOTT W_____     HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

LISTED BY SCOTT!!!! LISTED BY SCOTT!!!!

COMING SOON! COMING SOON!! COMING SOON!!

Not in the market myself, but I can just picture someone getting this card and scratching their head and saying to themselves, "Well, I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the housing market right now... but on the other hand, Scott does sure use a lot of exclamation points! I'm in!"

Deep breath everybody... 

Jerome A Paris over at Daily Kos:

"The end justifies the means" is the most dangerous argument. When your end is God, or doctrinal purity, or black and white morality inspired by a Superior Being, you end up committing the worst crimes, as they are easily justified by a greater good in the future. When that greater good is in your afterlife, you end up - inevitably -with suicide bombers on one side, and torture and preemptive strikes on the other.

Religion and spirituality belong to the private sphere. If someone finds solace, peace, fulfillment in his/her beliefs and religious practice, that's great. If you find an anchor for your personal values and morality in religious doctrine, that's also a good thing. But religion is NOT THE ONLY SOURCE OF VALUES AND MORALITY.

Bring your values into the political debate, not their source. Do come into politics to promote your values and your morals. But please do not come into politics to get others to adopt the source of these values. That's totalitarian.

"List 7 songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to!"

Couldn't resist.

1. "Let's Get A Groove On", Lee Fields
   
2. "Watch the Sunrise", Big Star
3. "Molotow Cocktail Party", Vivi Bach & Dietmar Schaunherr
4. "Colubaly", Amadou & Miriam
5. "The Dap Dip", Sharon Jones and the Daptones
6. "Ride the Fence", The Coup
7. "George Bush Doesn't Like Black People", the Legendary K.O.

A confession: I'm not listening to any of those right now. I'm listening to a podcast of "Crap from the Past" right now (and at the moment, "I Want A New Drug" is playing.)

Quoth the dean of the "No Spin Sit and Spin Zone" himself, as reported by the Chronicle:

"You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds,' " O'Reilly said Tuesday on his radio show as San Franciscans were approving the two measures. Perhaps, he didn't realize that he'd be speaking mostly to foreign tourists and suburbanites if he were standing in Union Square.

"Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead," O'Reilly went on. "And if al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

Yo, Bill? Spin this! 

So the Senate voted today to strip War on Terror detainees from the right to contest their detainment in U.S. courts.

The measure passed, because five "Democrats" voted for it:

Conrad, N.D.; Landrieu, La.; Lieberman, Conn.; Nelson, Neb.; Wyden, Ore.

When they're up for reelection, I hope they get the pants beat off them. I'm not sure I mean that only metaphorically.

Really, what the hell is going on here? The Republicans are totally running scared this week. If there was ever a time to break away from them, this was it.

 
What are these "Democrats" afraid of? Alienating the pro-pulling-wings-off-flies-and-kicking-small-puppies voters?  

Vote against "Intelligent Design" advocates, get smited? So says Pat.

“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there.”

Watch the video

And Michael had this to say about it.

Wow, I bet that makes some people sad.

Like her family.

Which will now spend more time with her.

Heee! 

For those who have been following the riots in France for the past two weeks, this column by Juan Cole might interest you.

A snippet:

I should begin by saying how much these events sadden me and fill me with anguish. I grew up in part in France (7 years of my childhood in two different periods) and have long been in love with the place, and the people. We visited this past June for a magical week. And, of course, I've been to Morocco and Tunisia and Senegal, and so have a sense of the other side in all this; I rather like all those places, too. How sad, to see all this violence and rancor. I hope Paris and France more generally can get through these tough times and begin working on the underlying problems soon. At this time of a crisis in globalization in the wake of the Cold War, we need Paris to be a dynamic exemplar of problem-solving on this front.

The French have determinedly avoided multiculturalism or affirmative action. They have insisted that everyone is French together and on a "color-blind" set of policies. "Color-blind" policies based on "merit" always seem to benefit some groups more than others, despite a rhetoric of equality and achievement. In order to resolve the problems they face, the French will have to come to terms with the multi-cultural character of contemporary society. And they will have to find ways of actively sharing jobs with minority populations, who often suffer from an unemployment rate as high as 40 percent (i.e. Iraq).

Phew. 

State Ballot Measures
100.0% ( 17726 of 17726 ) precincts reporting as of Nov 9, 2005 at 7:27 am

Statewide Returns	County Returns | County Status

Propositions Yes Votes Pct. No Votes Pct.

73 N Minor's Pregnancy 3,130,062 47.4 3,465,629 52.6 Map

74 N Teacher Tenure 2,987,010 44.9 3,662,932 55.1 Map

75 N Public Union Dues 3,092,495 46.5 3,551,011 53.5 Map

76 N Spending/Funding 2,522,327 37.9 4,115,388 62.1 Map

77 N Redistricting 2,673,530 40.5 3,920,487 59.5 Map

78 N Rx Drug Discounts 2,719,999 41.5 3,821,957 58.5 Map

79 N Rx Drug Rebates 2,523,803 38.9 3,950,763 61.1 Map

80 N Electric Regulation 2,189,126 34.3 4,182,374 65.7 Map

Y - Proposition is passing N - Proposition is not passing

 

 

And also...

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Thank you. 

(Sorry about the formatting; I'll fix it later.)

 

Reading the Salon.com advice column, I come across a query from a young man who is agonizing about whether or not to dump his nice-but-a-tad-racist girlfriend. The kicker (in bold)...

She's young (21) and grew up in a racist household, but at some point she has to take ownership for her opinions. I almost dumped her on the spot, but there's so much else about her that I adore and admire; she's a fascinating mishmash of conflicting traits -- she loves Bush but also thinks Noam Chomsky should run for president, for instance.

I'm sorry, if that's her strong point, the relationship is DOOMED. She's clearly not using her brain. DUMP HER NOW. Thankyouverymuch. (Apologies to the Noam Chomsky fans out there...)

The advice columnist is kinder than I am, though. He advises the young man to give things a go, but...

One final request: If you can't talk her out of her racist views, at least try to talk her out of majoring in broadcasting, OK?

This is NOT what I like to see in a church. I took this picture last night around 7:30 pm in St. Patrick's Catholic Church at 756 Mission Street in San Francisco.

 

Note the prominently placed "YES on 73" sign on the church bulletin board? Its sister was on the other board to the left.

I plan to acquaint them with this section of the church guidelines... 

Signs on Church Property. Placement of political signs is essentially an attribution issue. With the exception of polling places (see “Polling Places” above), political signs should not be placed on property owned by Catholic organizations or rented by Catholic organizations for official business. Section 501(c)(3) does not prohibit the placement of political signs on the personally-owned property of Church officials or employees.

The Polling Places section says this:

Polling Places. Catholic organizations, particularly schools, frequently permit local election authorities to utilize their auditorium and gymnasium facilities to serve as polling places on election day. This activity is a manifestation of civic duty, is nonpartisan, and does not constitute a violation of the section 501(c)(3) political campaign activity prohibition. Any limited campaign leafleting or signage permitted outside polling places under local election rules, conducted by local campaign volunteers, should not be attributed to the Catholic organization.

And it seems pretty clear to me that you can't attribute that sign to anything but this particular Catholic organization. Grrr....

Michael or I took these a few years ago during a stopover on the way to New Orleans.

A statue of George Bush, Sr., in the Houston airport... coat blowing out back over his shoulder and over his butt...

 

Called...

(And no, the artist's last name does not help matters.)

 Republicans trying to "cut waste" again, on the backs of the poor, as usual...

I like this quote, though.

"The problem is the interrelationship between cutting taxes, which no matter what you do will be viewed as cutting taxes for the rich, and reducing programs for the poor," said moderate Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.). "It's that simple."

 

Yep! It looks like that because that's what it is! Smart boy! 

Various random things!

Exhibit A: A friend's scary Halloween costume. She is dressed as Tom Cruise, and the ruler she is wielding sports a tiny picture of Katie Holmes. 

She says she spent the day at work occasionally jumping up and down and screaming "I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!"

Not surprisingly, when it came time for the office costume contest, she won Scariest Costume, hands down. 

I saw another slightly scary sight today: ZipCar's promotion stunt in which passers-by were invited to "smash a gas-guzzler." (I'm sticking with CityCarShare.)

 

 

On a less scary note, it was very pretty in North Beach today.

 

My favorite cafe — Cafe Trieste

Yummy deli counter at Molinari's

A nice sunny day in North Beach

 

The Republican campaign strategy, as confessed by Michael Scanlon, ex-DeLay aide and Jack Abramoff's business partner.

Go to this site: http://indian.senate.gov

Under "Exhibits released to the public as part of the Oversight Hearing on Lobbying Practices" click on  "Hearing on November 02, 2005" to download a VERY large PDF (20+ megabytes).

Turn to page 119.

See this?

 

Read more about it at Salon.com

Now what would Republican lobbyists like their wackos to vote FOR on Tuesday in California? Think about it. Don't be part of the public who "lets the whole thing slip past them."

Well, that didn't go too well.

When you crash the party, you're not supposed to make the party go crash!

A visit to Howard University goes horribly wrong.

All he had to do was drop in on Soul Food Thursday, be seen sharing a wing and some collard greens with students -- and score one for the GOP.

But the visit went from bad to worse. On a day when the U.S. Senate passed a resolution paying tribute to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who died last week, campus security guards were telling students that if they wanted to eat they'd have to come back when the president and first lady were gone, then go to a service door at the rear of the dining hall and ask for a chicken plate to go.

How does that song go again?

From UPI... note the part I bolded.

French riots underscore deeper problems

By ELIZABETH BRYANT

PARIS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Six straight nights of clashes between French police and rioters in Paris-area housing projects are laying bare simmering discrimination and ethnic tensions lying just under the country's officially colorblind creed of liberty, equality and fraternity.

The riots have gone far beyond law-and-order tangles between youths hurling stones and Molotov cocktails and police responding with tear gas. Eighteen months before French presidential elections, they have taken on a raw political edge as they fuel partisan bickering and existing divisions within the ruling center-right Union for a Popular Movement party.

On Wednesday, French President Jacques Chirac waded into the fray for the first time, after keeping silent for nearly a week. At a ministerial meeting, Chirac appealed for firmness, but also for dialogue and respect in treating the largely ethnic North African-Muslim communities where the riots have taken place.

"We have to redouble our efforts to assure equal opportunities," Chirac added, touching on what activists say is a key root to the violence in communities where French citizens of immigrant origins remain second-class citizens in their own country.

The clashes began after two teenage boys were accidentally electrocuted last Thursday as they tried to scale a wall in the gritty, Paris suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois. A public prosecutor said the boys believed police were chasing them. Police deny doing so.

Either way, the incident has sparked nightly riots that have since spread to other Paris-area suburbs. Helping fuel the riots has been the tough and controversial response of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy -- who sparked outrage earlier this year by vowing to "clean out" another suburb rocked by ethnic violence -- blasted this week's rioters as "scum." His latest remarks have unleashed a tempest of indignation, with some of the shrillest criticism coming from opposition leftist lawmakers...

Sarkozy has since gone on the defensive, arguing that "scum" is not a vulgar word, and that he is a polite person.

The riots themselves are no laughing matter. France has a powder keg on their hands. You can't have your crown city ringed with slums filled with angry young people with no hope and expect things to go well. And believe me, in America, we know a thing or two about inner-city riots.

The California Oh-So-Special Election is next Tuesday. I'm sure all two people who read this blog are just dying to know how I'm going to vote. Well, tough - I'm telling you anyway.

73: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Funny, but I thought improving communication between parents and children involved education... family therapy, perhaps... but certainly not changing a state constitution to define abortion as "causing death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born." My vote: Aw, HELL no.

74: Public School Teachers. Waiting Period for Permanent Status. Dismissal. Initiative Statute. Teachers would have to work for 5 years, instead of 2, before getting out of the probationary period. Hmm. According to this article, most states in this country have a waiting period of 3 years. Maybe 2 years isn't enough, but 5 years seems extreme. My vote: No, but I might vote yes on a more reasonable initiative down the line.

75: Public Employee Union Dues. Restrictions on Political Contributions. Employee Consent Requirement. Initiative Statute. On a ballot of bullshit, this one is particularly turd-tastic. Union members can already opt out of having their dues used for political messages. Note that corporations can still give to whatever political cause they like without having to run it by their stockholders (much less their employees!). My vote: NO!!!

76: State Spending and School Funding Limits. Constitutional Amendment. Why don't you ask Colorado how well it's working out for them? (Hint: their Republican governor is trying to raise taxes now because the cuts have gone too deep (and apparently the whole TABOR thing has just been weakened.)  My vote: No.

77: Redistricting. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. At a break-the-fast a few weeks ago, one of my hosts' friends said, "The question is not, 'should California do this in 2005," it's 'should Texas have done this a few years ago!'" My vote: No, no, no, no! I'm not saying "never redistrict," but if it's important to do, it's important to do right - and the timing and people behind this push are extremely suspect.

OK, I'm running out of steam...

More later.